The Berekly Years: Could be worse
by ChampagneWishes
Summary: Ryan's playing soccer at college when he gets hurt, and we all get a look at his life during the Ryan college- era. Could become part of a series about Ryan & Co @ Berekly. RT, Ryan & Kandy bonding, OC's. story better than summary
1. Chapter 1

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A/N: Yeah, I know- I have 3 stories currently in progress and here I am writing a silly fluffy whumpy one- shot, but well, I needed something a bit more light- hearted

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Ryan paused to swipe his bangs off his forehead, they were slick with sweat and the damp mist that drizzled down from the gray afternoon sky. The air felt heavy and thick, full of more moisture than Ryan was accustomed to. He glanced around and noticed the other boys who had gathered for their pick- up soccer game were also glancing up at the rapidly darkening sky. He glanced over at Taylor, who flashed a bright smile at him, even as she sat on the ground in a trench coat. She had come to the game with several other girls, but most had fled with impending weather. Ryan's stomach growled, reminding him that it was almost dinner time.

"One more goal- then call it quits?" Mason asked. He was the organizer and de- facto captain of these loosely organized soccer matches that happened every Thursday afternoon in their makeshift soccer field. A few kids wore cleats, but most wore sneakers. Most of them might have been good enough to play on a team at a D3 school, but where nowhere near the D1- competitive level of their college, but still, their games were fast and furious. Ryan enjoyed the games and Taylor was usually content to bring a book and glance up occasionally. Looking back at her now, her head was back down in her book.

The other kids had assented to the last goal proposal, but now the mist had organized itself into actually fat drops of rain.

They reformed their lines, and Ryan took up his defender's position. His team had control of the ball, and Mason was charging up the field with it. Ryan moved with him, but not as far up the field, in case the other team got it and came back. Sure enough, Mason went for the quick kill and fired the ball toward the goal- but it was a straight shot, and the goalie nabbed it and tossed it to one of his teammates, Jake.

Jake was one of the bigger kids on the team, and had played ice hockey back home in Minnesota, he tended to be a bit aggressive on the field, so Ryan's team gave him some room as he charged down the field, but Ryan held his ground. He wasn't the type to be so easily bullied or intimidated, and Jake's main skill came from charging like an enraged rhino- and all the grace and dexterity of one. Ryan took a chance and sprinted towards him, managing to get within range and then kicked the ball away from Jake- right between Jake's legs. Jake glared, but Ryan had already darted around him, and was now headed up the wet field. The rain had started to come harder, he wanted to look around to see if Taylor was there- worried she was getting soaked, but the goal was getting closer, their field was not full regulation size. With a final sprint, Ryan drove the ball as hard as could into the high right corner of the goal, his back foot sliding across the wet grass, and both feet lifted off the grass. He felt a moment's elation as he watched the goalie jump and miss and then as if in slow motion, realized that he was slightly off balance. The grass was wet and slick, and as his right foot came back down, he was off balance. As he landed it rolled on the grass, his sneaker couldn't find stability, and his ankle rolled as his full weight of his body came back down to the earth.

The pop was audible. At least to Ryan.

"Woah man- are you okay?" Mason came running up beside him. The goal had been forgotten.

"Yeah," Ryan gritted his teeth. Mason offered him a hand and Ryan struggled back to his feet.

"Ryan!" He heard Taylor calling his name, as she butted her way through the other guys who had gathered around him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, fine…" He hissed as he tried to take a step. His ankle protested against taking his weight. The rain was starting to come down harder. The other guys glanced at Ryan and then back towards the sky.

"It's fine… We should get inside," Mason said, as giving the group permission to disperse. Everyone hesitated.

"I'm fine," Ryan assure them, "Just twisted my ankle a little." He pretended to stand on it.

"Take it easy man," Jake said, clapping him on the shoulder. The rest of the players said their good byes and drifted away.

"Let's get inside…" Taylor suggested, once they were gone.

"Yeah…" He took another halting step, and almost fell to his knees when his ankle refused to take the weight.

"Here," Mason said, pulling Ryan's arm over his shoulder. Taylor followed his lead and took his other. Ryan tried to take a few steps like that.

"Stop walking and hop, Ryan." Taylor ordered. Reluctantly Ryan obeyed, feeling kind of silly as they brought him inside the nearest dorm's stairwell. Mason eased Ryan off his shoulder and onto one of the steps, then ran his fingers through his wet hair, and looked around, as if to assess the situation. Taylor was already sitting next to Ryan, her hand had somehow found his.

"Should we call an ambulance?" Mason asked, pulling out a cell phone.

Taylor scooted off the step and examined the damaged leg, and Ryan glanced down too. It was starting to swell, but not too badly. Ryan guessed that it was badly sprained, but not broken.

"No. No ambulance." He declared.

"Ryan, you have to see a doctor!" Taylor protested.

Ryan nodded, "I know, but I don't need an ambulance. Let's just drive."

Taylor nodded, "Okay, wait here, I'll go get the car. Do you mind waiting with him?" She asked Mason.

Mason nodded, "Sure,"

"Not like I'm going anywhere…" Ryan muttered, but he didn't mind. It would have felt a little weird to sit in the stairwell by himself.

"Nice goal, by the way." Mason said, as he slid down next to Ryan on the steps.

"Thanks…" Ryan said. "Probably my last for the semester…" He sighed in disappointment.

"At least you made it a good one."

"Go big or go home?" Ryan and Mason had taken an econ class together their freshman year and played soccer together every week, but they rarely socialized outside of a large group, and a silence fell.

"So uh… Is Taylor your girlfriend?"

"Yeah," Ryan nodded.

"Any cute friends?" Mason asked.

Ryan smirked, "Haven't you seen the crowd she brings to our games?"

"Yeah," Mason said, "There's a red head that usually comes… Do you know if she's single?"

"Ariel? Uh…" Ryan knew she had an on-again-off-again relationship with some basketball player, and when it was off, she always seemed determined to make up for lost time. "I don't know," he said.

"Hmm…" Mason sighed and leaned back against the steps. "Ankle feeling any better?"

"Yeah, a little." Ryan lied, mostly he had just been trying to block out the pain.

"You're from Newport right?"

"Uh, sorta."

"Sorta?" Mason asked.

"Didn't grow up there, moved there in high school." Ryan didn't want to start talking about his complicated past. That had been one of his goals when he came to college: A new start, a clean slate. The explanation seemed to satisfy Mason. Ryan shifted his position slightly, trying not to move his out stretched leg. "You're from New York right, Westchester or something? Everyone says its like the O.C. of New York."

Mason laughed, "Yeah something like that. Although, I think some people would say we're worse than you guys- what was that show?"

"The Valley?"

"Yeah, that show. Well, we could relate,"

Ryan snorted, "Yeah," he sighed, "So could we." Outside tires squealed to a halt and a horn blasted. "Guess that's my ride." Gripping the banister, he gets to his feet.

Mason helped Ryan outside, and then opened the door of Taylor's Lexus SUV. "Nice wheels," He grinned at the driver.

"Want a ride back to your dorm?" Taylor offered, it was still raining outside.

"Don't you have to get to the hospital?"

"I'm not about to bleed to death, it's cool." Ryan shrugged.

"Sure…" Mason opened the back door and was surprised to find the red head he had admired from a distance, sitting in the backseat.

"Uh… Hi…" He said, awkwardly.

"Oh, right," Taylor glanced back. "Ariel's coming along."

"You like going to the ER for fun?" Ryan asked, turning around in his seat.

"Taylor's my study buddy, and we have our midterm tomorrow in poli sci. I ran into her in the dorm- we'll be there for hours anyway. Hi, I'm Ariel by the way," She turned and stuck out her hand. Mason shook it, looking a little dazed.

"You know Ryan, why don't I come with you? I can uh… I mean, if the girls are studying and whatever…" Ryan caught Mason's eye in the rearview mirror and gave him a half- smile.

"Sure," Ryan said. Taylor caught his eye and raised her eyebrows but Ryan shook his head subtly at her.

"What happened Ry?" Ariel asked, as Taylor pulled away from the curb.

"I fell playing soccer," He admitted.

"You didn't fall- you pulled some crazy world cup shit and then you fell." Mason grinned, backing his new- found friend up.

"Oh… Okay…" Ariel said. "Sucks you messed up your leg."

Ryan shrugged, "Yeah." Taylor was driving to fast, and the wheels screeched as they skidded around a curve. "Uh… Taylor… how about getting us there alive?" He glanced back, Mason looked pale and was clinging to the coat hanger.

"Oh… Right, sorry." Taylor wasn't a good driver at the best of times, and when she was stressed it got even worse. Somehow, they got to the hospital in one piece. Taylor had taken the back roads and made good time. Ryan hopped out of the car, and then looked around to Mason. Mason however, had staggered out of the back of the car, looking positively green, and then stumbled over to the nearest trashcan where he proceeded to lose his lunch. "Was my driving really that bad?" She turned and looked at Ryan.

"Uh…" He decided not to answer that question. Ariel was staring at Mason's heaving shoulders with slight disgust.

"Gross…" She said, her nose scrunching up.

"Sorry guys," A pale and embarrassed looking Mason came back over to him. "I'm not so good with car rides," He admitted.

"Clearly…" Ariel said, edging away from him. Taylor pulled a water bottle and a pack of gum from her bag.

"Thanks…" Mason said gratefully. He took a swig of water and then spit it into the trash can, then drank a few more sips of water, and a piece of gum, and then finished the water off. He glanced at the empty bottle. "Oh… Sorry…"

"It was almost empty anyway."

"Can we get inside? I'm getting wet," Ariel complained.

"No one's stopping you princess," Mason muttered, as he walked towards Ryan and helped him hobble inside. Once inside, they dropped into four empty chairs then Taylor stood to go and get Ryan checked in. She returned with a clipboard full of paper and handed it to Ryan.

"Shit… I don't have my insurance car-" Taylor cut him off when she dropped his wallet into his lap.

"Grabbed it from your room." Taylor had been holding onto his room keys while he played soccer- Ryan had forgotten. He had once lost his keys on the field and it had taken nearly an hour to find them, now he asked Taylor to hold them. That explained why she hadn't gone inside with everyone else.

"It's cold in here," Ariel whined. It was true, despite the cool weather outside, the AC was blasting. Ryan was glad he had been playing in his Under Armour under a t-shirt. Mason glared at her, he was wearing only a t-shirt and shorts. Ryan felt kind of bad for him, when he saw the goose bumps on his arms. He could tell Mason was starting to regret his decision to tag along. _Well, that's what you get for following your cock… _Ryan thought, reminded all too well of the bad decisions he had made because of love… or hormones. It took Ryan nearly ten minutes to finish the paperwork, and then Taylor marched it over to the receptionist. She and Taylor had a conversation that Ryan couldn't hear, but when Taylor came back she looked seriously dejected.

"Going to be at least two hours."

"What? Why?" Ariel glanced around the seemingly- empty ER waiting room.

"They're backed up, back there. A car accident came in or something."

Ryan sighed, "Let's just go home, I can just tape it up or something. Go to the school's clinic on Monday."

Mason shook his head, "That place is terrible, all they can do is write out prescriptions for penicillin and tell you to use condoms." He paused, "That came out wrong." He glanced at Ariel, who just rolled her eyes.

"Whatever," She said. "I don't care, as long as we study." She looked pointedly at Taylor.

Taylor sighed, "Well, Ryan, up to you."

Ryan felt uncomfortable as three pairs of eyes turned to him. "Well, uh…"

"Maybe the wait won't really be two hours," Taylor suggested, trying to sound chipper. "And I mean, we're here, right?"

"Yeah dude, you mind as well get checked out." Mason shrugged. "I mean, if you to the school clinic, they're just going to end up sending you back here. Mind as well get it over with." Mason was running his hands up and down his arms, clearly freezing.

"You know… Taylor, why don't you take Ariel and Mason back? I mean, we're going to be here awhile… Maybe I can just call you when I think I'm almost done."

"But Ryan…" Taylor protested.

"I'll be fine."

"I'll stay, it's cool." Mason said.

"I say driving back and forth is a waste of time, and we should just start studying."

"Okay," Taylor agreed. The matter was settled. Taylor and Ariel pulled textbooks out of their backpacks and started studying.

"Want a magazine?" Mason stood up.

"Sure," Ryan shrugged. He was ankle was starting to really hurt, it throbbed with every heart beat. He pulled the plastic chair that was next to him, in front of himself and propped his leg up on it. It felt a little better.

"Not a very good selection," Mason said, coming back, "Car and Drive or Sports Illustrated?"

"Whatever man," Ryan said. Mason gave him the Sports Illustrated. Ryan tried to read but his ankle hurt and he couldn't focus on an out-of-date story about some baseball player he had never heard of. Well, it wasn't like an ER would have the latest of copy of Architectural Digest. He wished he had thought to ask Taylor to grab that off his desk when she was getting his wallet. Of course, who would have guessed they'd be here just waiting for hours? He glanced down at his watch. Not even half an hour had passed yet.

"I need to call Kirsten." He suddenly realized, and then noticed that he must have said the words out loud because both Taylor and Mason turned and looked at him.

"Oh yeah, you should do that." Taylor nodded.

Ryan pulled his phone from his pocket then sat there looking at it for a moment, "You know, maybe I'll wait. She'll just worry…"

Taylor shrugged, "Yes, but think how mad she'd be if you didn't tell her?"

"It's not like she'd find out though…" Ryan said.

"But if she did, and you didn't tell her?"

Ryan sighed, "She'd kill me, right?"

"Right." Taylor affirmed, then went back to studying with Ariel who looked impatient with the whole conversation. Ryan noticed Mason was looking at him curiously. He was probably wondering who this Kirsten was.

"My mom…" Ryan said, quickly, feeling awkward as he said it.

"Oh, right." Mason accepted the explanation and went back to reading.

Ryan sighed as he dialed Kirsten's cell phone. She answered on the third ring, "Hi Sweetie, I didn't think I'd hear from you until Saturday." Ryan called home every Saturday. Seth called home every Sunday.

"Uh yeah…" Ryan said. He hated having to tell Kirsten stuff like this. Hated making her worry. "I just… Uhmm…" He stalled, suddenly he didn't want to tell her. "I uh, I got an A on that paper that I wrote about IM Pei," Okay, so he hadn't gotten the grade back on Tuesday.

"Really? That's great! I know how hard you worked on it, and how nervous you were."

"Yeah, well, uhmm, thanks." Kirsten had proof- read it for him. She knew more about that sort of thing than Sandy, even though Sandy was usually the one to whom the boys sent their rough drafts. Ryan tried to smile as he spoke, he didn't want Kirsten to know something was wrong, he decided, and what was there to tell? He was at the ER. They were forced to wait. What could she do? What good would it do to tell her?

"How's everything?" Kirsten asked.

"Things are good, you know, school's busy."

"Good," Just then Ryan heard the sound of a child start crying. "Oh shoot, that's Sophie. I have to go. I'll talk to you on Saturday? Congratulations on the A! You earned it!" And then Kirsten was gone. Ryan hung up the phone.

"You didn't tell her?" Taylor glared at him.

"I decided it wouldn't do anything if I did." He said defensively. Taylor sighed.

"You can be so stubborn."

"Taylor? Can you focus? Puh-lease?" Ariel asked.

"Right…" She shot one more glare at Ryan then turned her attention back to her notebook. She and Ariel were writing out practice outlines on different themes they thought the teacher might bring up in their essay questions.

"Didn't tell your mom?" Mason asked, still looking at the magazine.

"Nah, she might, you know, show up here or something."

Mason snorted, "Nah, not really. My parents both work full time, if I called from the hospital and said I might have broken my ankle they'd say two things: Did you remember your insurance card? And do you need money? Even if I wasn't on the other side of the country…"

Ryan paused, both Sandy and Kirsten had worked full- time but both had almost always had time for him if he needed him. And Dawn. Well, a situation like this with Dawn, she would have had neither an insurance card nor money. "That sucks man," he said.

"Whatever. Could be worse." _Yeah, it could be._ He debated telling Mason that it hadn't always been like that, but somehow that would seem like he was trying to compete for "Who's life has sucked more?" And well, he usually won that contest. Or lost, depending how you looked at it.

"Westchester's near the city, right?"

"Yeah, right next to actually."

"Did you go to the city a lot?"

"Yeah, in high school, on the weekends. We'd go down there- there was this one bar in St. Marks place, we were usually the only white kids there, but they never carded. When my sister was in high school, the city was a much more, I dunno, relaxed place. Then they had all these crack downs and stuff started to change. I mean the city was already gentrifying, but especially after 9/11… She said stores in Times Square used to advertise that they made ID's like in their windows, but nowadays, it's totally different. Times Square is the last place you wanna go if you're under 21 and want to get drunk. You ever been?"

"Times Square? No."

"Well, I meant to like New York City in general."

"Oh… No, not really. I mean, my brother goes to school in Rhode Island, but I haven't gone out there yet." Ryan didn't want to admit that he had in fact only ever been to two states in his entire life.

"It's a cool place, I mean, I'm sure it's sort of like LA or whatever. Just a lot colder. But you know, one big cultural melting pot. Man, I'm hungry."

"Yeah," Ryan glanced at his watch, "it's dinner time." Not to mention that earlier Mason had lost the entire contents of his stomach to a trash can.

"I'll go to the cafeteria and grab something." Mason offered. "Girls, you want anything?"

"I'll go with you," Ariel popped up.

"Uh, okay. Taylor, Ryan?"

"Diet Coke-" Taylor started to say, Ryan gave her a meaningful glance, "And a bag of chips?"

"Sure, Ryan?"

"Uh, I'm not really hungry…" He felt bad saying it, after he had just given Taylor that look, but truthfully, he wasn't.

Taylor went and stood next to him, "You should eat something- your body needs to heal it needs nutrients."

"I don't think it's healing yet…" Ariel glanced at his ankle, it was twice the size it had been when they had first gotten here, and was starting to turn black and blue.

"Can you get me a coke? And some fries?" Ryan asked.

"Sure," Mason said. Ryan pulled out a ten, figuring that would cover both him and Taylor.

"Ariel feels bad," Taylor said, when the two had walked away.

"Huh?"

"She feels bad she was so mean when he puked. She kind of has a crush on him. She just… hates vomit. Even her own. One time when she was drunk, she puked, and she actually started sobbing hysterically. She practically never drinks anymore. But anyway, she told me she thought Mason was cute. When I told her that he was with you, she agreed to come. I mean, we were supposed to study anyway, but Mason was totally the deciding factor."

"That's funny cuz' Mason asked if she was single…"

"Your ankle looks pretty bad…" Taylor said.

"Yeah," Ryan shrugged, and glanced at it. Okay, it wasn't a pretty sight. It made him slightly nauseous to look at it.

"I'm going to go ask if they can hurry this along." Taylor said.

"Wait…" He grabbed her wrist. "Just stay, with me, okay?"

"Okay…" Taylor sat down next to him. She knew Ryan. The only time he became clingy was when he was hurt or sick. Well, actually, it could go one of two ways. Either he got clingy, or he pushed her away and tried to be super- manly about it. It was the same whether or not it was his body or his emotions.

"Just talk to me, okay?" He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

"About what?"

"I dunno… Anything."

"Uh…" Taylor was at a rare loss for words.

"Have you talked to Summer recently?" He volunteered.

"Oh yeah, she called the other day."

"Tell me how she's doing."

"Okay, well, she's doing good. She's become really involved with this environmental grass roots organization that was founded by a Brown graduate. They're undertaking some initiative to raise money to buy this big plot of land that's for sale. They want to buy it so the developers don't. And the sellers have agreed that if they can raise a certain amount then he'll sell it them, and he'll sell it to them cheaper because if he sells to a non- profit then its partially a tax write- off, but they have to raise the money. So Summer's been trying to organize this phone bank of students, but apparently, no one's that interested in volunteering their time to make cold calls. So she's sort of on her own. And Seth is apparently no help. She said he might be the world's worst fundraiser. I mean, he's kind of a really good sales person, but he talks them into making a donation and then somehow out of it. Like they agree to give him a $100 and then he like makes sure they can really afford to do it and starts going on about all the better places they could or need to put the money. Like their rent and car insurance." Ryan chuckled. "Needless to say, Summer's asked that he not 'help' them out anymore, but of course that offended Seth. Oh, and she suggested maybe that he could like draw caricatures in the park and sell them, and donate the proceeds. Maybe even more people would sign up to get them done if they knew the money was going to a good cause. But then he got all offended, said she thought that his art was trite. So she tried to say portraits, but he was already pouting and refused to hear another word. So then they had angry sex and then they kissed and made up and make up sex." Ryan was smiling, he knew Summer had a tendency to over-share about her and Seth's sex- life. Ryan and Taylor usually just smiled at one another, content to secretly know that theirs was better. Or at least not based off cycles of love and hate. There was just good sex. And better sex.

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A/N: Well, what do you all think? Keep going? Basically I was gonna write it as a 1-shot... But I just kept writing and writing... And then I ran out of time...

-CW


	2. Chapter 2

"Uh... Mason, sorry about earlier." Ariel said, as they walked towards the cafeteria.

"Don't worry about it," Mason shrugged his broad, muscular shoulders. He had been a football player in high school, until he had torn his ACL his junior year. After the surgery, he could have kept playing, but his mother decided that it was too dangerous, and that was the end of that. Just like after his sister had broken her wrist horseback riding, her mother had told her she couldn't do that anymore. She had been ten and was still resentful. Mason was pretty sure that was why she now dated some guy with a motorcycle and Sarah was learning how to drive it. "So uh... Where are you from?" Mason decided to move the conversation into safer water.

"Massachusetes, like right outside of Boston, you?"

"New York, right outside of New York City."

"Westchester or Long Island?"

Mason pretended to be offended, "Long Island?"

Ariel smiled, she had a nice smile, Mason had noticed it before, "Must be Westchester then. Do you know Todd Forester? He's from Westchester. He's a sophmore."

Mason shook his head, "Nah, but there's a lot of Westchester kids at our school."

"It's an east coast thing, everyone comes out here looking for sunshine. Except Taylor and Ryan, they're both from Newport."

"Did they like- come to school together?" Mason asked.

Ariel shrugged, "I dunno, it's hard to tell with those two. I know they went to high school together, but didn't really talk much back then. They said something about sort of getting together senior year, I dunno. I know she was in France for awhile, like before she came here. She started like mid- year our Freshman year."

"You're a sophmore right? Taylor's class?"

"Yeah, and you're-?"

"A Junior,"

"How do you know Ryan?"

"We play soccer every week, he's a nice good guy. I feel bad he got hurt..."

"Hopefully it's just a sprain." Mason decided not to say that he had seen sprains and breaks before- and he thought it was a little too swollen to just be just a sprain, also Ryan seemed like he was in serious pain, and he was a pretty tough guy.

"Yeah," was all Mason could say.

"I'm surprised Sandy wasn't there today."

"Who?"

"Sandy? Ryan's dad? He usually watches your game, and his wife and kid come too. Sandy's awesome- I had him for this pre- law class I took." Now that she mentioned, Mason did remember seeing an older-professor looking type watching lots of their games, sometimes with a blonde wife and a kid. He remembered Ryan talking to him, but hadn't thought anything of it. He just thought Ryan was a student of his.

"Maybe cause it was raining?" Mason suggested, now wishing that had decided to postpone game like they had been planning on doing. Ryan might not have gotten hurt.

"Oh right," They reached the cafeteria and bought various sodas, chips and a few orders of french fries. Mason insisted on paying. He had decided to bring back the ten to Ryan. The kid was lying the ER with a broken ankle, he could keep his ten. Walking back, their conversation flow easily. Mostly they talked about the east coast versus the west coast, and laughed about the stereotypes of themselves that they had encountered, and the way that everyone made fun of their accents- especially Mason's which had the thick-sounding t's of a New York accent. Ariel had the bad habit of occasionally slipping into the Ah'accent of Boston.

When they rounded the corner of the ER, both of them stopped short at the sight in front of them.

Taylor had climbed up onto her chair, and was on her knees, sideways, facing Ryan. Ryan's head was resting against her chest, her head was on his and his arms were circled around her waist. She was running her hands gently through his hair, and speaking softly too him. Ryan's face was pale.

Ariel and Mason exchanged a look, they were afraid to go and intrude on such a tender moment, that they didn't feel like they had been meant to see, but Ryan spotted them, and pushed himself upright, and managed a smile that was almost more grimace than smile, as he tried to adjust his ankle on its chair.

"Dinner," Mason tried to grin, as he handed Ryan his fries, coke and his ten- dollar bill. Ryan looked annoyed when he saw the money, but Mason just shook his head. _It's my fault your hear Ryan- I could have called off the game and I didn't._ But he said nothing allowed as he sank into his chair and dove into his own fries.

Ryan ate about two fries, then seemed to lose interest. Taylor glanced at him nervously, as she ate her chips. Their meal was quiet, everyone was trying hard not to look at Ryan, but they all couldn't help it, and kept shooting furitve glances towards him. The kid did not look good, and his ankle seemed to look worse and worse by the second. The purplish bruise beneath the skin had spread, and Mason noticed that now it was almost triple the size of the other ankle. He was almost certain now that it was broken, and the bone possible displaced. After his own knee surgery he had become almost obsessed with sports injuries, and after recovered he had done EMT training. Now, he was going to school to be a doctor. He wanted to be an orthopedic surgeon. He mentally berated himself for not splinting the ankle. He glanced at his watch. They had been there for over an hour and Ryan needed medical attention. The kid was way too pale and sweating slightly.

"I'm going to get a doctor to see you," Mason stood up, wiping the grease from the fries off his hands and onto his pants. "Try and look... injured." He winked.

"I'll go with you," Ariel jumped up, but Mason just ignored her. He was on a mission. He strode over to the desk.

"Excuse me?" He asked, trying to keep his voice polite but stern, the way his father did.

"Can I help you?" The woman glanced up, looking slightly interested.

"Look, I'm a certified EMT," he pulled out his wallet and flipped open to the card he always carried. "I came in with my friend over there," he gestured towards Ryan, "And we thought his ankle was just sprained, but I think it's worse than that, and it looks like he might be in danger of going into shock, he's already showing early warning signs. His pupils are dilated and he's very pale. He's a little sweaty too."

"Ryan Atwood?" The nurse glanced down at the chart, then looked up, craning her head around Mason to look over at Ryan. Ryan was playing the part of pathetic patient a little too well, he was slumped against Taylor who was stroking his hair, but she glanced up at Mason, looking slightly frightened and worried. Mason decided that Ryan wasn't acting. "Let's see if we can get someone out here..."


	3. Chapter 3

_"Ryan Atwood?" The nurse glanced down at the chart, then looked up, craning her head around Mason to look over at Ryan. Ryan was playing the part of pathetic patient a little too well, he was slumped against Taylor who was stroking his hair, but she glanced up at Mason, looking slightly frightened and worried. Mason decided that Ryan wasn't acting. "Let's see if we can get someone out here..."_

"Great, thanks." Mason smiled. Ariel was impressed as the nurse picked up the phone and spoke into it requesting immediate assitance in the ER.

"That was awesome," She whispered as she and Mason walked back over to Ryan and Taylor. Ryan saw them approaching threw half- slitted eyes and struggled to force himself to sit upright, but he looked positively green as he did it.

"Hey man," Mason said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "They're bringing someone over to see you."

"Thanks..." Ryan said, speaking through clenched teeth, as if he were trying to stop himself from being sick.

"Ryan Atwood?" A nurse yelled as she stood in the doorway. They all jumped, except Ryan, who only looked up blearily.

"That's me..." He said, pushing himself slowly upright.

"He needs a wheel chair," Mason yelled back, slinging Ryan's arm across his shoulder, and helping him up slowly. If Ryan stood up too fast, Mason was certain he would faint. An orderly appeared pushing a wheel chair.

Ryan looked at it, "No wheelchair... I'm fine..."

"It's either a wheel chair, or I have to carry you- and there's no way." Without waiting for further protest, Mason and the orderly helped Ryan into the wheel chair. The orderly gently holding his ankle to guide it onto the foot rest. Ryan hissed slightly in pain, but said nothing.

"We'll wait out here," Mason offered, stepping back as the nurse and the orderly escorted Ryan away. Taylor nodded, looking pale and solemn, as she followed the sad procession.

* * *

Ryan felt an odd sense of relief when he found himself settled on a nice hospital bed with a nurse efficiently taking his temperature and checking his blood pressure. "It's high..." Taylor had said softly. They were in a small curtained off cubicle type room. Doctors and nurses moved in and out from behind other curtained areas. Next door, Ryan could hear a doctor giving someone advice for how to deal with the flu. He wondered how long that guy had had to wait, and was glad there was a curtain between them, he didn't want whatever that guy had. The nurse had also declared that he was dehydrated and hooked up an IV.

"We're going to get you an icepack while we wait for the doctor to come and see you- okay?" A nurse offered.

"Sure..." Ryan said. Taylor stroked his hand.

"Hopefully the doctor will be along shortly," The nurses.

"Thanks." Ryan and Taylor said together. It wasn't long before the doctor appeared.

"I'm Dr. Evangold, and you are- Ryan?"

"Yeah, and this is my girlfriend Taylor."

"Hi Taylorm," Dr. Evangold glanced at the chart, "Alright Ryan, what brings you here today?" The doctor asked. His voice clipped and efficient. He didn't look much older than they were, he was short, with pale blue eyes and thinning blond hair.

"I fell playing soccer, sprained my ankle."

"Right or left?" The doctor said, his eyes scanning down Ryan's legs, "I'm guessing right."

"Yeah," Ryan said.

"What happened?"

"I slipped on the grass- rolled my ankle."

"Alright, let's take a look." The doctor walked over and lifted the ankle slightly, Ryan sucked in a breath at the sharp stab of pain. The doctor glanced at him and then gently lowered the ankle back down to the table.

"Well, judging from the swelling and pain, I'd saw we might have a fracture, I'm going to send you to get some x-rays. And then we'll take it from there, alright?"

"Yeah," Ryan nodded.

"I'll send someone along in a moment to take you down, alright?"

"Sure," Ryan nodded.

"And then after we look at those, I'll come talk to you again. Have you notified your parents or legal guardians that you're here."

"I'm over 18." Ryan said.

"Oh, right. I'll be back with you in a little while- okay?"

Ryan nodded, and sighed, not believing it would be a little while at all- but was surprised when an orderly appeared and announced that he would be taking Ryan down to get some pictures taken.

"I'm going to tell Mason and Ariel what's going on- I'll be here when you get back." Ryan nodded and Taylor kissed his forehead, and watched as they wheeled Ryan away.

* * *

"Hey," Ariel said looking up from her textbook, "What did the doctor say?" Mason dropped the Sports Illustrated and looked up.

"It might be broken, they're going to take some x-rays. Then they'll fix him, and we can all go home." Taylor smiled, seeming pleased that she could be the bearer of good news.

"Awesome, here, I made you some extra notecards, in case you want to study back there." Ariel handed them to her.

"Thanks," Taylor smiled.

"I got nothing-" Mason said, "Tell him I said good luck. I hope it's not broken."

"Yeah..." Taylor nodded, looking like she was fighting back tears. "I'm going to get back there- I want to be there when he gets back from taking x- rays."

* * *

"So, how bad was it?" Taylor asked when Ryan reappeared.

"Wasn't that bad, the x-ray tech was pretty cool. We were talking about soccer."

"How's your ankle?"

"I think the ice pack helps a little," Ryan said, glancing down at it.

"Did the x-ray tech say anything?"

"No, he's not allowed. I asked."

"Too bad... Would save us a wait..." Taylor joked ineffectively. "You should call Sandy and Kirsten..."

"I'd rather wait, until I know anything. Better to not freak them out." Just then, as if on cue, Ryan's phone rang. He looked at it in dismay. "Sandy..." he groaned.

"Are you going to answer?" Ryan watched it ring for a moment then picked it up, trying to keep his voice as normal sounding as possible.

"Hey Ryan, there you are. Kirsten and I were thinking about going to this lecture tonight, but we don't have anyone to watch Sophie. I know you have your own life kid, and I hate to ask, but our usual sitter is sick, so we thought we'd give you a try. And Sophie would be happy to see you."

Ryan groaned, of all the days, "Uhmm... Tonight's not a good night."

"Oh, big test tomorrow or something?"

"No... I..." Ryan struggled for a moment, "I was playing soccer today, I kind of twisted my ankle. I was just going to stay home tonight... Take it easy..." It wasn't an outright lie.

"Is your ankle okay?"

"Yeah, just need to rest it a little."

"Are you sure? Is it swollen?"

"It's fine," Ryan said. "Don't worry-"

"Don't worry? Ryan, that's our jobs to worry." Ryan realized he mind as well come out with the truth, it would be worse if Sandy spotted him on campus limping or worse- on crutches.

"Taylor's taking me to the doctor to get it looked it," He decided that was reasonably close to the truth.

"She is?" Okay- now Sandy sounded even more worried.

"Yeah, you know, its nothing, but she just wants to make sure."

"Okay..." Sandy sounded unconvinced. "Alright, well, we're going to stay home tonight. Call us if you need anything."

Ryan groaned, "You really don't have to do that. I'm fine, and Taylor's around..."

"Well, it's not like we have a babysitter. Call us after you see the doctor okay, I want to know what he said."

"Right..." Ryan muttered, glaring at his bruised and battered ankle that had decided to betray him and cause all this trouble. He sighed. "Alright, well Taylor's here, so we're gonna go." Taylor rolled her eyes.

"Okay, good luck Ryan. Keep me posted. Love you."

"You too. Bye." Ryan hung up.

"I don't believe you..." Taylor said, shaking her head, "They're going to be pissed when they find out you lied."

"If it's worse than a sprain then I'll just tell them that the doctor sent me to the hospital."

Taylor sighed, "You know they only worry because they care about you."

"I can take care of myself." He said defensively, Taylor shot him a look, "And I have you." He lay back down, lowered his bed and closed his eyes. The phone conversation had been draining. The IV had helped revive him briefly, but now he felt tired and in pain again. He hoped the doctor would hurry up and get there soon. At least he could lie down with his ankle elevated above his heart, that had been Taylor's suggestion, and had helped a lot. It felt much better than when he had been sitting in the waiting room.

"Ryan, I have your results." The doctor came in, waving an enormous manilla folder.


	4. Chapter 4

_"Ryan, I have your results." The doctor came in, waving an enormous manilla folder._

Ryan raised the bed back up, and Taylor sat dwn on the chair next to the bed as Dr. Evangold clipped the x-rays to the light up board on one of the wall next to Ryan that wasn't a curtain. "So, what we're looking at is a fracture of the-"

"Fracture?" Ryan interrupted the doctor, sitting bolt upright. He fell back, "Goddamnit..." He put his arm over his eyes as if to try and not see the x-rays.

"Is it bad?" Taylor asked, reaching out for Ryan's hand and squeezing.

"It's only a minor fracture, six weeks and you'l be as good as new." The doctor said, trying to sound positive.

"Six weeks?" Ryan groaned.

* * *

"So, it was broken?" Mason asked, as Ryan appeared limping along on crutches. His ankle in a dark green plaster cast that went almost up to his knee.

"Yeah..." Ryan sighed.

"Tough err-" Mason caught himself, "tough break" was not the right phrase at moment, "Luck." He finished lamely. "What'd they say?"

"It's only a minor fracture, should be fine. See an orthopedist in a week. Take some Aleve." Ryan sighed. Taylor was holding the scripts for the referral to the orthopedist and the extra- strength Aleve. "But at least I got to the pick the color of my cast..." He grumbled as they headed towards the exit.

"How does it feel?" Mason asked.

"Fine." Ryan snapped. "Can we just go home?" Ariel and Mason exchanged a glance, but both decided silence was the best response.

"I'll go bring the car around," Taylor offered.

"Thanks..." Ryan said, slumping into the seat nearest the door.

* * *

They drove back to campus in near silence. No one was sure what to say to the grumpy, ticked off Ryan. Taylor drove slowly on their way home. Mindful of her angry, injured boyfriend and Mason's delicate stomach, besides now there was no rush. The emergency was over, and their campus wasn't going anywhere.

Taylor dropped Mason and Ariel off at their respective dorms first, and then drove Ryan to his, parking in an available spot out front. Ryan made no move to get out of the car.

"Ryan?" Taylor said softly, "We're here..."

"It's no fair..." Ryan said quietly, "It's always me? Why is it always me?"

"It's not..." Taylor decided not to argue, Ryan was about to have a self- pity fest and Taylor decided it would be best just to let him have it, and get it out of system. "I'm sorry..."

"What are you sorry for? Not like this is your fault." He growled.

"I know, but I'm sorry that you're in pain. I'm sorry you got hurt..."

"Thanks..." Ryan said. Then he sat up and looked out he window, "I guess I can't sit in this car all night, huh?"

"Nope, sorry..." Taylor smiled at him. As Ryan climbed out of the car, and Taylor ran over to the the other side to get his crutches, both parties failed to notice the petite blond woman who was out walking a stroller in the gathering dusk until a female voice cried out.

"Ryan!?"

Ryan froze and groaned, still not fully upright on his crutches. "Please tell me that's not Kirsten." Taylor glanced around and nodded.

"Yeah that's Kirsten."

"Shit..." Ryan cursed. He had said anything to Sandy since the phone call pre- diagnosis.

"Ryan! What happened?" Kirsten came jogging up to them, pushing the baby carriage, as Ryan got firmly to his feet, or at least properly mounted on his crutches. "Are you okay?" She looked him up and down checking for other signs of injury.

"I fell playing soccer, it's not a big deal."

"Not a big-" Kirsten stared at him aghast, "Ryan you're on crutches-" She glanced around as if to ascertain why, and saw the cast on his leg. "Ryan- you broke your leg?"

"It's not my leg... It's my ankle..." He protested weakly. "And it's not that big a deal." He repeated.

"Does it hurt? Did you to the hospital? Did you-" She stopped at a loss for words, so overcome with a mix of worry about Ryan's injury and exasperation that he hadn't called her and kept saying that it wasn't a big deal. It was a big deal!

"It doesn't hurt," Ryan assured her, "I didn't even think it was broken. It was a minor fracture. I'm going to call the orthopedist tomorrow and make a follow- up appointment." He tried to stay calm and reasonable with his foster mother. He had been rehearsing this conversation in his head. Of course, in his head it had taken place over the phone. Not face to face. Somehow he was sure the situation seemed worse from her end than it actually was, seeing Ryan standing there with a cast on his leg.

"Sandy said you had twisted your ankle, but I didn't think-" Now she felt guilty for not jumping onto high alert sooner.

"I didn't either-" Ryan said, "I really just thought I twisted it a little."

"How can you mistake a broken ankle for a twisted one?" Kirsten asked.

"It really didn't hurt that bad at first..." Ryan lied, glad that it was dark and Kirsten couldn't see Taylor rolling her eyes. "Everything's fine though, I went to the ER. They gave me this cast and the name of an orthopedist... Look, Kirsten, I'm sorry, but I'm really tired and I just want to go to bed." He nodded up at his dorm.

"Does your dorm even have an elevator? Do you want me to come pick you up?"

"No Kirsten, I'm fine." His voice was resolute.

"But... But..." She protested. She glanced down at Sophie, who was watching everything that happened above her with interest.

"I'll call you in the morning?" He offered. Leaning forward on his crutches, and kissing her on the cheek. "Night Kirsten!" He called, limping away. Kirsten turned and looked helplessly at Taylor.

"Don't look at me- at least he had a conversation with you about it."

"Will you keep an eye on him? Call me if he needs anything- even if he won't admit it?"

"Don't worry Mrs. Cohen, I will. Say hi to Mr. Cohen for me- uh... us?"

"Okay," Kirsten nodded as Taylor hurried off after Ryan, who was becoming more adept at his crutches and moving at a fairly decent pace. "Ryan- will you at least wait for me?" Taylor yelled as she chased him down. There were more words, but Kirsten couldn't catch them, as she stood there for a moment.

"Well, Sophie, that's your big brother- and if you ever try to do what he just did? Well, that's just not going to happen." Sophie cooed.

* * *

**A/N: What? Not enough hurt you say? Oh don't worry I'm not finished with our favorite OC boy just yet. And no, this is not a deathfic. I don't do death fics. I do h/c and its really hard to comfort someone when they're dead. ;)**

**Why this scene? Well, I just got an image in my head of how funny it would be if this was how Kirsten found out about it. What do u all think- you know drill ;) Oh ps- signed reviews are appreciated so I can respond individually to reviews!  
**

**-CW**


	5. Chapter 5

"How does your ankle feel now?"

"Fine." Ryan said, he would never admit in a million years that it actually hurt worse now that it was in the cast. Before it had been sort of like a stabbing pain, now it was more like a constant loud throbbing, and the pain seemed to radiate up his entire leg.

"Why did you lie to Kirsten like that?" Taylor asked as she got Ryan settled onto his bed, with his leg propped up on a pillow. He tried to not to wince as he lifted it onto the pillow.

Ryan sighed, "I just don't want her to worry- is that so bad?"

"Come on Ryan, you were downright rude to her."

"Was it really that bad?" Taylor just gave him a look.

Ryan sighed, "Fine, I'll call her in the morning and apologize."

"And?"

"And I'll let her take me to my followup with the orthopedist."

"Good Ryan," Taylor said. "Do you need anything before I head back to my dorm?"

"You're leaving?" Ryan asked, looking slightly hurt.

"I kind of have to Ryan... I have that test tomorrow, remember? And I don't think 'my boyfriend broke his leg' will fly as an excuse."

"You never know until you try," Ryan grinned at her, but they both knew that school always came first for her. She had missed a semester and now although she had earned some credits in France she still had to do an extra- heavy course load to catch up. Besides, hadn't Ryan said repeatedly that it wasn't that bad? Ryan wasn't ready to that pathetic in front of her- at least not yet- he thought, as his ankle throbbed in its cast.

"Oh right... Are you staying over tonight?"

"You think there's room in that bed for me and your leg?"

Ryan glanced at the tiny twin bed and sighed, "Not really..."

"Will your roommate be around do you think?"

"Probably... But it's not like he's going to wanna take care of an invalid."

"I'll go home and bring my stuff back?" Taylor offered. "At least until you go to sleep?"

"If you don't..."

"It's fine Ry," She kissed his forehead. Noticing that it was kind of sweaty. "Do you want to change your clothes?"

"Will you help me?" He grinned mischievously and Taylor smiled, as she helped him pull off his Under Armour and his t-shirt with one smooth, practiced stroke. She brought him a fresh t-shirt and dropped the workout gear into the laundry basket. Ryan was the only guy she knew who's laundry basket was never over-flowing. It might have had something to do with the fact that Kirsten insisted on coming into his dorm and picking it up herself, unless Ryan dutifully showed up at her house with it. She said it was silly for Ryan to spend his money on the dorm laundry machines when she had perfectly good washer and dryer machines at home. All parties who knew about the arrangement: Taylor, Ryan, Kirsten and Sandy, knew it was really just an excuse to make sure Ryan came home to visit, and everyone but perhaps Kirsten knew that Ryan wouldn't have needed an excuse. Still, it did trap him there for at least an hour so Kirsten could ply him with food while he played with Sophie.

The shorts were a bit more difficult, and Taylor tried to be gentle as she manuevered them down his leg and around his feet. First removing the good leg, then the bad. She noticed Ryan flinched when she lifted his casted ankle and resolved to be more gentle. She went to bring him a pair of sweat pants when Ryan harumphed, and gestured to his boxers.

"Really?" Taylor raised an eyebrow.

"I'm injured," Ryan reminded her.

Taylor sighed deeply, "Well, if you insist."

"You know... I think it might be better, if you did it from a different angle..." Ryan said, sitting up and pulling her onto the bed with him. She sat straddling his thighs and then leaned down to kiss him.

"Woah-guys-door-lock-tie-something-geez!" Brad came and Taylor sat back on Ryan's thighs. Ryan winced as some of her weight came down his leg.

"Hey Brad," He wheezed, as Taylor scrambled down and he let out an unnoticed sigh of relief.

"Hi Brad," her face was flushed red.

"Sorry, I didn't mean..."

"It's fine, nothing was happening." Ryan tried to discreetly cover his boxers and the bulge that had started to rise within them with the blanket. Also his leg. He was not in the mood to have another conversation about.

"Uh- these are for you." Taylor said, tossing a clean pair of sweats at Ryan.

"Thanks..." He said.

"So, Taylor, how's the French Lit class?" Brad looked pointedly at Taylor and away from Ryan as Ryan scrambled into his pants, ignoring his ankles protests. When he was done, his ankle throbbing away, he tried to casually throw the blanket over the foot that was showing, hiding the cast completely. Taylor turned around, and caught his eye, and the movement as he hid his cast. She rolled her eyes, but said nothing.

"I have to go home and grab some stuff, but I'll be back later..." She said, and made her exit.

"Hey, sorry about that man," Brad said, when Taylor was gone. "I totally didn't mean to cock block you like that."

Ryan shook his head, "Don't worry about," Ryan was actually sort of relieved. The pain his ankle made him think that maybe he might not have been quite up to that particular challenge at the moment. Brad and Ryan had been paired together as roommates their freshman and got along well enough, that neither had seen any reason to change come sophmore year. Ryan realized that his laptop was on his desk, and he kind of needed it to do anything. Except then he noticed his architecture book on his bedside table and decided that to do a little reading. The doctor had given him a note to excuse him from class for Friday, but he still had an upcoming test in architecture on Wednesday next week.

"So, I was at the library, and I met this girl."

"Really?" Ryan looked up. Brad was a shy computer science major who had trouble meeting girls.

"Yeah, she was reaching for the same book about nonlinear algebra as I was..."

"Sounds like a match made in heaven," Ryan smiled at his roomate and friend. He liked Brad, he was like a calmer, quieter version of Seth. A bit shorter too. He was shorter than Ryan. But he was restful and clean, two qualities Ryan appreciated after living in a house with Seth. A space less than a twentieth of the size? Quiet, calm and clean were all very good.

"Yeah, she said her name was Jessica. I asked her if she'd like to meet me for coffee sometime- like you said I should next time I met a girl I liked."

"And?"

"And she said yes," Brad grinned. "I didn't think she would, but I had nothing to lose... So..."

"That's awesome, congrats." A particularly strong wave of pain rolled over him, and he grimaced for a moment.

"Are you okay?" Brad asked, instantly on alert.

"Yeah, I'm fine- did you get her number?" An old trick of Ryan, whenever he found the spotlight uncomfortably focused on him, just ask someone a question about themselves.

"Yeah, she gave it to me!" Brad said in slight wonderment.

"Good for you man," Ryan turned away and picked up his textbook, hoping it would signal an end to their conversation, gritting his teeth at another wave of pain that seemed to almost reach all the way up to his spine. He glanced at the clock. He had taken two of the super- Aleves already. He couldn't take anymore for at least four hours. He wished the doctor he had taken up the doctor's offer for a perscription for something stronger, but he thought he could handle the pain and he didn't want to be groggy. Good move Ryan... He thought.

"Well?" Brad had been talking Ryan realized, and he had missed whatever he had said.

"Sorry, what?" Ryan asked.

"I asked when I should call her?"

"Well, not tonight..."

"Yeah, even I know that."

"I dunno... Tomorrow night? Wait at least twenty four hours." Ryan advised. "You don't want too look too eager, but if you wait too long, you might look disinterested."

"Right... Not to long but not too short..." Brad nodded, as if he were taking notes in class.

"Good," Ryan smiled affectionately at him, and turned back to his book.

"Maybe I should just text her?"

"No, call her." Ryan said. "Texting's sort of cowardly or something."

"Okay... So no texting... Got it."

Ryan sighed, "Right, no texting. Call her tomorrow night. Or Saturday afternoon."

"What about Sunday?"

"Sunday's fine..." Ryan realized that with Brad this keyed up and excited, he wasn't going to get much work done. "But Saturday or tomorrow's better. Although not too late tomorrow. Don't want to make it look like you're home by yourself doing nothing or something."

"But I will be here, I mean, I won't be doing nothing, but it's not like you'll be here..." Brad said, it wasn't a complaint. It was a fact. Brad spent most Friday nights heavily engrossed in intense battles on World of Warcraft. On those nights he stayed up until all hours of the morning drinking energy drinks and battling monsters while talking into his headset to other people who were all apparently doing the same thing. Ryan always made it a point to sleep over at Taylor's house. Otherwise the intense battle talk tended to keep him awake. Unless he went to a party and came home drunk. On those nights, an earthquake couldn't wake him up once he'd fallen asleep. He'd just come in and walk right past DarkPower12 and fall into bed.

"So call her before you start your battle or something."

"We're starting at like 6 tomorrow... And once we start..."

Ryan groaned, "Come on man, I can't do this all for you."

"You're right. I'm sorry. I just- I like this girl. I want to do it all right."

"There's no right way or wrong way, I mean what works for one guy... You gotta figure it out for yourself."

"How'd you get Taylor?"

"Taylor?"

"Yeah, she's really pretty. How many days did you wait until you called her? Did you know you liked her from like the moment you met her?"

Ryan almost choked on his laughter, "Ah, not quite. Taylor and I had an... Unusual courtship."

"Really, how so?" Brad turned around in his chair, fully engrossed in whatever story Ryan was about to tell.

"It just was." Ryan picked up his textbook again. Right now he didn't have the strength of the energy to go into the Atwood-Townsend Drama. Or any of his past relationships really. He sighed, he honestly couldn't remember the last time he had liked a girl, and picked up his phone, and just called her. When he talked to Brad about it, he made it sound easy. Or maybe, if you weren't in the OC it really was just that easy. Gritting his teeth, against another wave of stabbing, throbbing pain, he went back to reading.

* * *

"Ryan broke his leg," Kirsten walked into the house.

"What?" Sandy looked up from the test he was grading, and took off his reading glasses. "Is that what the doctor said? How bad? How should I know?" Kirsten knew she was taking her frustration at Ryan out on Sandy, "He would barely say two words to me!"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, he was downright obnoxious and rude!"

"Really? Ryan?" Sandy shrugged, "Did you call him?"

"No, I was walking Sophie by his dorm and I saw him getting out of Taylor's car with a cast on his leg!"

"Walking by his dorm?"

"I wasn't looking for him..." Kirsten said defensively. "I just happened to see him."

"Well, maybe he felt ambushed."

"Sandy- his leg is broken!"

Sandy sighed, "And he's probably not in a very good mood. And probably in some pain."

"Right..." Kirsten sighed, and picked Sophie up out of her stroller. "So can I call him? Ask how he's feeling?"

"At least wait until tomorrow. Was he by himself?"

"No, Taylor was with him."

"Then he's fine- she'll take good care of him."

"But we're right here..." Kirsten continued to protest.

"And Ryan knows that, if he needs us he'll let us know."

"You're right... I'll call him in the morning." Sandy shook his head and chuckled. Kirsten carried Sophie from the room.

"At least wait until 9am and let him get some sleep!" He called after her.


	6. Chapter 6

Ryan stared at the red numbers of his alarm clock and watched as they clicked slowly from 2:59 to 3:00. AM. He was awake. Couldn't sleep. He lay as still as possible. Waves of pain and nausea rolling over him. He prayed he wouldn't get sick, certain he'd never be able to make it the bathroom on time. A bead of sweat of rolled down the side of his face and into his hair, which was already sticky. He covered his face with his hand and tried to hold back a choking sob of pain as another throb of pain hit him like a sledgehammer. Brad was asleep. Taylor had left him hours ago to go to bed. He had told her to go. Assuring her that he would be asleep shortly as well. His hands clenched at the sheets, and his body tensed for a moment as another wave crashed over him. He wasn't sure how much more he could take. Was it normal to hurt this much? It hadn't hurt like this after right after he had gotten hurt. In the ER it had be bad, but not like this. This was a whole new level. He clenched his teeth and tried not to scream, fantasizing about take a chainsaw to his leg, certain cutting it off would hurt less than the pain he felt now. His cell phone was next to his desk. He could call the Cohen's. Kirsten. Not that they could help him. Unless Sandy had a chainsaw. Another wave, a tear slipped from his eye and mingled with the sweat on his face.

He was lying flat on his back. One pillow under his head, two under his broken ankle. One of the pillows was light pink. Taylor had brought it over for him. He debated calling Taylor, but she was probably sound asleep by now, and she had that big test tomorrow. Maybe he could Kirsten first thing in the morning. She'd be awake by 7am right. Maybe she could get him to the orthopedist first thing in the morning, and the nice orthopedist man could fill out a nice perscription for something to help him deal with the pain.

He took a deep breath, 7am was only 4 hours away. Would Kirsten be mad at him? Another wave. All thoughts of Kirsten's angers vanished in a blaze of white pain as his back arched and twisted, as if his entire body were trying to pull itself away from his broken bone. A whimper escaped his lips, several more drops of sweat cascaded down his face and dropped silently onto his pillow. When it passed, he glanced at the clock. 3:04 am. 3 hours. 56 minutes. Another tear. He prayed Kirsten wouldn't be mad at him and prayed for morning to come. And wondered how things could get any worse.

* * *

**A/N: Wow, even by my standards this chappie was chock full of goo-alicious hurt- hope you liked it! I'm going to be away for a few days so you lucky ppl get 2 chappies today (and this one was short) **


	7. Chapter 7

At 6:30 am Ryan couldn't take it any longer. He picked up his cell phone and dialed the Cohen's.

"Hello?" Sandy's familiar voice answered, sounding confused but alert.

"Sandy?"

"Ryan?" Sandy instantly recognized the familiar voice but something was wrong.

"Is Kirsten there?" Ryan's voice sounded harsh and broken.

"Of course she's here... Ryan, are you okay?"

There was a pause, then a soft, "No... My ankle... It really hurts..." The last words with said almost like Ryan was actually choking back tears.

"Okay, I'm coming right over." Sandy didn't wait for Ryan to give him permission. "I'll be there in five minutes okay?"

"Okay..." Ryan agreed, sounding relieved. Sandy's panic went up a notch. Ryan was not the type to so readily accept help. Something had to be wrong. Very wrong.

Kirsten was asleep but Sandy shook her awake, "Kirsten, Ryan just called. I'm going over there to get him. He sounded pretty rough." Kirsten was instantly wide awake.

"Okay," She sat upright, and glanced at the clock. "Is it his ankle?"

Sandy nodded, "How early in the morning do you think we can get an appointment with an orthopedist?"

"I don't know- I'm going to start calling around though." Kirsten jumped out of bed and went straight for her laptop, grabbing up the portable phone. Sandy was already out the door by the time she managed to dial the first number.

Sandy sped over to Ryan's dorm and found him standing there, leaning on his crutches. From a distance he looked okay, until Sandy drew closer. Instantly his heart started to pound harder. Ryan looked absolutely terrible. He was pale, shaking, and perspiring heavily. Heavy bags under his eyes made Sandy think Ryan hadn't slept a wink the night before. His eyes looked hazy, like they were looking but not seeing. Sandy told himself to hold it together.

"Hey kid," Sandy got out of the car and walked around to the passenger door. Ryan limped slowly towards it on his crutches, his arms shaking with every step. Sandy finally came over and helped him into it.

"Thanks..." Ryan whispered. His eyes closed as he leaned back against his seat's headrest.

"Ryan, what happened?" Sandy asked, "Do you want to go to the hospital?"

"Already went there..." Ryan said, "Can you just take me home?"

"Sure kid... Kirsten's trying to get you in to see an orthopedist this morning."

"Okay," Ryan nodded, not opening his eyes.

When the grey BMW pulled into the driveway, Kirsten ran out immediately to meet it, as Ryan slowly climbed out. "Dear God- Ryan!" She cried, running towards him. But as she got closer to him, she realized she didn't dare touch him. It already seemed like he was using every ounce of strength and energy he had left just to get up the front walk. When Ryan got to the front steps, he handed his crutches to Sandy, and then resolutely hopped up them. Taking big deep breaths with each steps, each breath catching with a slight gasp of pain, whenever he landed. At the top, Sandy handed back his crutches. Then Ryan moved with his own steam into the den where he proceeded to collapse onto the couch. His crutches clattering to the floor. The last of his strength drained.

Kirsten and Sandy were by his side in an instant, "What's wrong?" What happened?"

"I don't know..." Ryan said. "I went to the hospital, and... It hurts... Really bad..."

"Do you think we should take him back?" Sandy asked.

"I think we need to get him to a real orthopedist." Kirsten said. "I've left messages with four in the area." She paused, "I'm going to call a few hospitals in the area too, there's a special orthopedic surgical one in the area, maybe I we can get in there before 8am."

"I'm sorry Kirsten... About last night..." Ryan said.

"It's okay sweetie," Kirsten said, "I'd be grumpy too if I had a broken leg." She might have been more mad, but right now was not the time for it. "I'm going to make some more phone calls."

"Ryan, can I get you anything?" Sandy asked. Ryan shook his head.

"Thanks for coming to get me..."

"Of course kiddo, anytime. I guess there's one good thing about having parents on campus." Ryan tried to smile. Sandy grabbed a throw pillow, "We should elevate this leg at least." He walked over to it, and gently lifted. He could feel the heat from Ryan's leg radiating and pulsating through the cast. He put it gently down. and noticed that the swelling must have increased since the cast went on, and now seemed to be biting into his swollen calf. His toes were swollen too. "I'll be right back," He tried not to sound too nervous. Ryan nodded. "Kirsten! Any luck?" He burst into the bedroom.

"I'm hold with the orthopedic hospital."

"His leg's really swollen. He needs to see a doctor soon."

"Mrs. Cohen?" A human voice finally asked on the other end, "You were asking about an appointment?"

"Yes,"

"Well, it looks like the earliest we can do is Tuesday morning at 10am... Would you like to book it?"

Kirsten pleaded, "You have to understand, this is an emergency. I don't think Ryan can wait that long..."

"Ma'm, you have to understand we are very busy..."

"And I understand that, but please, I'm begging you, someone has to see Ryan today. His leg is swollen, really badly, it looks the cast could be cutting off circulation and he's in a really bad shape."

The woman paused, "Well, Dr. Babson gets done at 8am with his shift and his last appointment is at 7:45am, he might see you at 8- I can ask if he can squeeze Ryan in then."

"Oh thank you!"

"I'll have to ask him," She dragged out the words, as if hoping Kirsten would stop bugging her.

"Please!" Kirsten begged, "Please, I know my son. I've seen him in pain before, and it's nothing like this. He's sweating and shaking, I don't think he slept at all last night. I'd take him back to the hospital, but I just don't trust the doctor's if after they looked at him, he ended up like this..."

"Alright, I'll call you back after I speak to Dr. Babson,"

"Thank you!" Kirsten hung up.

"Well?"

"They might get him in this morning."

"Great job honey!" Sandy said. The phone rang and Kirsten lept on it.

"Mrs. Cohen?"

"Yes?"

"I just spoke to Dr. Babson- how soon can you be here? She said she'll see him if you can be here in the next twenty minutes."

"Thank you! Oh thank you so much!"

* * *

Dr. Babson sighed as he looked at the chart that had just been faxed over from the hospital. The family he was about to see was clearly the hyper-concerned-over-anxious type. There was only a minor fracture denoted on the chart, but his assistant told him that on the phone the mother had sounded absolutely frantic. He sighed, he knew Bettie meant well, but she was always trying to fill in every available spot

He took another look at the chart before he walked in to meet the family.

* * *


	8. Chapter 8

Kirsten stood next to Ryan and rubbed his arm as lay on the table and tried his hardest not to actually cry. The venture from the parking to the waiting room had been torture, and then there was the twenty minute wait in the waiting room, and now waiting in the office, on a hard narrow bed. Sandy sat in the chair, jiggling his knee anxiously, holding Sophie who was sleeping.

A nurse had already been in and out and asked Ryan a few questions about the accident and the pain he was experience, taken his pulse and then assure him the doctor would in with him any moment. That had been twenty minutes ago. There was a knock on the door, and tall doctor with thick red hair came into the room. "You must be Ryan-" He smiled and held out his hand. Ryan struggled upright and shook it.

"Mr. and Mrs. Cohen?" He shook there hands smiling and then sat down on the stool.

"So, Ryan, what seems to be the trouble today?"

"I dunno... I broke my ankle yesterday and today..." He took a deep breath, "And then... Last night... After I went to the hospital the pain got really bad."

"On a scale of one to ten, how bad was the pain?"

"I've never been in so much pain in my life," Ryan told the doctor honestly.

"Did you take anything?" He paused a put a hand on the cast, looking at the way the leg had obviously swelled since the cast had been put on. Maybe the kid just needed a bigger cast, but... He consulted the chart again. It said it was just a minor fracture, and this swelling seemed to indicate something much worse.

"They gave me these big naproxens... Like 500mg's each... I've been taking like two... Or three, every couple of hours?"

"Stomach been bothering you?"

Ryan shook his head, "If it has, I haven't noticed."

"Alright, well, I'm going to go ahead and cut take this cast off your leg, because right now I think it's doing more harm then good, and then I'm going to send you down for some x-rays okay? See if maybe something was missed yesterday. Sometimes we these types of injuries there are multiple fractures that get missed."

"Okay..." Ryan said, nodding, relieved that the doctor was taking him seriously. He had almost been afraid that they wouldn't believe him.

"Has the naproxen helped at all?" Ryan shook his head, "I'm going to send in the nurse to give you something a bit stronger too, taking the cast off could be very painful for you, alright?"

"Yeah," Ryan nodded weakly.

"And I'll see you again shortly." The doctor stood up and left, after nodding good bye to the family. He closed the door behind himself and frowned. Either the kid was the world's greatest faker, or someone had made a very serious mistake.

If Ryan had been mentally prepared for the pain of the de-casting of his leg, aided by whatever pills he had been handed in the tiny plastic cup that he had taken without question, he was not prepared for the sight of his leg. It was swollen almost beyond the point of recognition. With all the swelling it was hard to even tell, but Ryan was certain it even looked slightly disfigued. Bruises covered almost 90% of his ankle, and the entire thing was imprinted the tiny lines of the cast molding. There was an enormous sore red mark around where the cast had been pressing into shin and calf. Kirsten and Sandy's faces mirrored his own horror as he observed it, and even the nurse seemed slightly taken aback.

"Let's get you to the x-ray," She said, trying to smile reassuringly at him. Ryan nodded, the pain killers had started to kick and the level of pain slowly seemed to drop, allowing to observe his leg at an oddly passive distance. Like somehow, except for the throb, he couldn't even be quite sure the leg belonged to him. Actually, it felt a lot better since the cast came off.

"Oh Ryan..." Kirsten said, putting her arm around his shoulder as he stared in fascination at the grotesque limb, "oh sweetie..." She seemed to be making a point to look everywhere but at the damaged ankle.

"I'm going to take Sophie outside," Sandy said, "Ryan, will you be alright?"

Ryan nodded. He was glad. Even though Sophie probably wouldn't remember this when she was older, it seemed better that she not see it. And Sandy looked like he might be slightly sick.

A nurse appeared with a wheelchair and her and Kirsten helped Ryan into it, as he tried to focus on not passing out.

The x-rays today seemed far worse than the x-rays the day before. Even though the technician tried to be as gentle as possible, Ryan still grunted and hissed with pain at even the slightest movement. There was no attempt at conversation today.

* * *

Dr. Babson clipped the x-rays to the bulletin board and shook his head. Poor kid. He took a deep breath, and went to deliver the bad news. It was always hardest to tell kids this kind of thing. Young men in their teens and early twenties who thought they were invicible, but they were just human...

* * *

"So?" Kirsten got to her feet, looking anxiously at the doctor, "Did you figure out what's wrong?"

"Yes, I have," He looked at Ryan, "I'm afraid I don't have much good news for you."

"It's still broken?" The pills had made Ryan feel woozy.

"Yes, it's still broken..." He clipped the x-rays to the backlight board, "And I'm afraid we have some internal bone displacement.

"What?" Ryan stared at him, not comprehending, but it didn't sound good.

He pointed to a spot on the x-ray, "When you twisted your ankle, you say you rolled it right?" Ryan nodded dumbly, "When the tendon along the outside here," he gesture to the outside of Ryan's foot, "Ruputured, it caused a distal fibular fracture, as well as a widening of the talotibial joint. The fracture intially may not have appeared complete, that is, it may not have looked like the break had gone all the way through the bone." He gestured to the x-ray. Kirsten and Ryan just nodded, the blurred white shapes made little sense to them, although Kirsten could see that the bone was no longer a staight line, like bones should be. "I believe, though I can't be sure, that at first the cast brought the swelling down, and the bone shifted out of place. While initially it may never have gone out of alignment, with the tabloid joint out of place, it had nothing to hold it upright so to speak, and it had fractured along a diagnol. See?" He pointed to a bone that was sticking out to the side of the bone above it. "It slid further and further towards the outside." He sighed and looked at the kid, "It's a good thing you came in when you did, if it had slid any further it might have done much more serious damage."

"So what does this mean?" Kirsten asked, reachnig out to hold Ryan's hand.

"I'm recommending that we operate."

"What?" Ryan gasped.

"Ryan, this bone," he pointed to the bone that had a shifted a good distance from where it belonged, "Is about to break through the skin on a diagnol. It's a sharp bone fragment. It explains the internal bleeding. We need to operate."

"What kind of surgery would it be?" Kirsten managed to ask, trying to keep her voice from trembling.

"I'm going to put in a small plate, with six screws while the ankle heals. Once it's healed, we can remove them. The procedure we'll take about an hour. We'll do it right here." Kirsten nodded.

"Goddamnit," he whispered, a tear slid down his cheek. "Gooddamnit."

"Do we have any alternatives?" Kirsten asked, clutching Ryan's hand.

"I could try to realign it with a closed reduction, but the healing process would be much more difficult for you. If the bone shifted even a milimeted from where it's supposed to be, you might never have full use of your ankle again."

"And with surgery?" Ryan asked.

"I'm not saying the healing will be instantaneous, but I do believe you will have a better chance in the long run."

"Should I do it?" Ryan asked, he feared going into surgery, but not being able to use his ankle again...

"Ryan, you're over 18 years old, I can't make this decision for you, but I think you should."

"Can I ask Sandy what he thinks?"

"Of course."

"Why don't I go get him?" Dr. Babson offered. Ryan nodded.

"Thanks..." He whispered. Sandy was brought back in after a moment. He was careful to keep his eyes on Ryan's face as the doctor explained the situation.

"Well Ryan, it's up to you." Sandy said.

Ryan nodded and closed his eyes, "Then I'll do it."

"When will we do it?"

"Wellwhile I'd like to do it today," He glanced at his watch, "But with the amount of naproxen in your son's body the risk of bleeding is too high. We could wait until this evening, but Ryan, I'm going to have to ask that you move a minimal amount, and if at all possible, I'd like to keep you here until then." Ryan nodded, his heart sinking.

"We'll be right here with you," Kirsten said, putting her arm around Ryan's shoulders.


	9. Chapter 9

Ryan had been moved to a room within the surgical hospital and told to put on the ridiculous outfit required of all hospital patients. In order to reduce the swelling in the ankle, the doctor had wrapped it with thick gauze and put an ace bandage over it, and a nurse had brought Ryan and icepack that he could hardly feel through the bandaging. It had then been suspended by a pulley above his head, which was remarkably uncomfortable, but necessary to keep the swelling to a minimum.

Ryan glanced at his watch, he was allowed to keep it until he went into surgery, but somehow the slowly ticking second hand did nothing to comfort him. It was only 9am and he wasn't going into surgery until at least 6pm. Taylor was taking her test now he realized with a strange jolt. Here in the hospital, removed from everything, it was strange to think that life as usual was going on for everyone else while he lay there. He realized with a strange sort of jolt that he hadn't told her where he was, and he felt slightly sick about having to tell her. He debated just telling her he was going to be at the Cohen's all day... Saving her the worry and the panic. Surgery. The word sent shivers down his own spine and he was sure Taylor would freak. Suddenly, he found himself wishing Seth was there. Seth would have been cracking jokes and making the whole situation seem lighter and less serious somehow. It was just a broken ankle for God's sake... It was pretty damn far from his heart. But still... The idea of months spent limping around on crutches just didn't seem that appealing.

He sighed and looked around the empty room. At least he had a TV, but he hadn't been paying much attention to the day time talk show. Kirsten had gone to get a cup of coffee and Sandy had gone to find someone to take care of Sophie for the day. They had given Ryan something to help him "rest" but he didn't want to sleep until he spoke to Taylor. He toyed between the two ideas... Telling her the truth... Or letting her live in ignorant bliss. She was stressed out enough with school already, and he felt bad adding to her burden.

His phone was in his lap. He looked at it for a long moment, then looked at his watch again. It was already 11am in New York. Seth would be awake by now. He could call him. Talk to him. Besides, Seth would be mad if he was left out of this loop any longer.

He picked up his phone and called Seth.

*********************************************

Seth was bored. Unlike him, Summer had classes on Friday and he was ready to get the weekend started. He picked up his sketchpad and started drawing, sitting under a tree in the quad outside Summer's classroom. The weather was starting to turn cold. He had already survived one East Coast winter and felt certain that getting through another would be no problem. Summer was not so sure. She hated the snow and the ice and the grey skies. She missed sunshine. And as she pointed out so Seth- several times in fact, her name was _Summer_ not _Winter._

Seth jolted when his phone suddenly vibrated in his pocket. Glancing at the caller ID, he was surprised to Ryan's name. It was way to early PST for Ryan to be calling.

"Hello?" He answered, certain he was going to be met with the sound of a pocket dial.

"Seth?"

"Hey buddy, what's up?"

"Uh, not much. What are you up to?"

"Oh you know, enjoying the crisp fall early and dazzling palate of fall foliage."

"Waiting for Summer to get out of class?"

"Waiting for Summer to get out of class." Seth confirmed. How well his brother knew him... And how well he knew his brother. Ryan was trying to distract him... But why would he call him to distract him? "So, uh... Is everything okay out there?"

"Uh... Sorta..."

"That was not convincing at all Ryan, come on, what's wrong?" He heard Ryan sigh. "What? You're not going to ask me to tell the rents something are you? I'm 3000 miles away, and I think somehow without my face my charm loses its effectiveness. So... If you did something... You're on your own. You didn't take up ultimate fighting again did you? Because there's no way, even if I hopped on a plane right now and threw myself at my parents to plead your case... I still think you'd be screwed."

"It was cage fighting... Not ultimate..." Ryan grumbled. "And no,"

"Okay... So you what?" He paused, "Did you and Taylor break up or something? Because Summer's the relationship counselor not me!"

"No... Seth, will you stop guessing?"

"Fine... Take away all my fun why don't you..." The phone beeped, "Oh hey, hold on a second, I have a call on the other line. I'm very popular now you know..." He pulled the phone away from his ear and glanced it. It was his mother. "The Kirsten is on the other line." He told Ryan. He heard Ryan groan. "Should I not take it?"

"Yeah, can you just wait?"

"So you have three more beeps to tell me what's wrong."

"I fell yesterday and broke my ankle." Ryan said quietly.

"What? What happened?"

"I fell when we were playing soccer... It's not a big deal..."

"Are you sure?"

"You know what... Talk to Kirsten." Ryan said.

"You haven't told her yet?" Seth said, "Oh no, there's no way I'm breaking this one to her." He winced, "No pun intended."

"She already knows," Ryan said quietly.

"Oh, okay." Seth relaxed. "Really? You told them? Wow, Ryan, I'm impressed. You've learned oh so much about things like communication and sharing..."

"Well, I was really going to tell them, but Kirsten caught me on crutches last night..."

"Wait- The Kirsten caught you on crutches? Did she even know yet?"

"Uhmm... Not exactly..."

"Did she flip?"

"Sort of... I kind of... Ran away."

"How fast can you run on crutches?"

"Faster than Kirsten with a stroller."

"Ah, an even match then... So is she calling me to try and get me to convince you to call her or something?"

"No..." Ryan paused and took a deep breath, "She's probably calling to tell you that I'm going into surgery tonight and you should call me and be a good brother."

"What? Surgery? For what?"

"For my ankle,"

"Yeah... but, if it's just broken..."

"It's kind more than just a little broken Seth..."

"Really? Are you.. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, they gave me some painkillers and stuff. It's fine."

"It doesn't sound fine."

"If you want to play Mother Hen call Kirsten." Ryan said grumpily, "I just wanted to keep you in the loop, not have you start fussing..."

"Right... That's what Kirsten's for... And Sandy... And Taylor..."

"I haven't told Taylor yet."

"What? You haven't told her you broke your ankle? Ryan, don't she think she might notice?"

"No, she knows I broke my ankle. She doesn't know I need surgery. She's taking a big test right, I figure I'd just tell her I'm Sandy and Kirsten's all day, so she won't notice."

"Ah yes, brilliant plan. Right up until the part where they took of the cast in a month and she notices a huge scar and she realizes you've been lying to her."

"Is Summer standing there?"

"No... Why?"

"No reason..." Ryan smirked a little.

"Did I just totally sound like a girl or something?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Ugh, gotta stop doing that."

"This is a habit? Summer must be proud..."

"Ha ha... Ryan's so funny when he's on pain killers... Oh, look here's Summer now."

"Don't tell her alright?"

"What?"

"If you tell her... She'll tell Taylor. Can we just let get Taylor get through her test in peace?"

"Fine..." Seth pouted.

Tell me what?" Ryan heard Summer's voice. "What about Taylor?"

"Nothing... Taylor's fine."

"Is that Ryan?"

"Yeah..." Seth turned his body away from Summer slightly, she looked like she was getting ready to do some phone snatching.

"So what aren't you telling about Chino?"

"Nothing!" Seth said, but his voice rose and instantly Summer knew he was lying.

"Tell me now or..." She stood on tiptoes and whispered something in Seth's ear.

"Ryan, sorry buddy but I gotta tell her."

"Traitor..." Ryan muttered. "Just make sure she doesn't tell Taylor."

"Yeah, yeah yeah..."

"Cohen... You have exactly four seconds!"

"Gotta go..." Seth said and hung up. "Will you chill?"

Summer looked at him and pouted, "I'm just looking out for my friend!"

"Right, whatever."

"Come on, tell me!"

"You're not gonna like it..."

"Cohen..." She warned.

"Ryan fell yesterday playing soccer and broke his ankle... Now he needs surgery. He doesn't want Taylor to know he needs surgery until after she finishes taking her test. There happy now?"

"No..." Summer flounced on the ground, "Now I'm actually kind of depressed... Is there anything we can do?"

"I dunno..." Seth said, "I think Kirsten and Sandy are kind of on top of it. Mom tried to call me already..."

Summer sighed, "Does texting count as telling?"

"Yes. Don't even think about it. Put down the Blackberry and step away from the keypad..." Summer rolled his eyes, but her pink Blackberry disappeared back into her enormous bag. Seth was always impressed by her quickness on the draw with that thing. Quickest texter in the East. Matched only by Taylor- quickest texter in the West. Seth smirked as he thought about the times when the four of them were hanging out, and him and Ryan would stand by as Taylor and Summer's thumbs flew.

"What are you smiling about? Your brother needs surgery!"

"I was thinking about... Never mind..." He sighed. "It's times like this when I really hate being all the way out here..."

"Yeah, I know..." Summer sighed. "Can we go inside? I'm freezing."

"Yeah sure..." Seth said, holding his phone and wondering how long until Kirsten called again.


	10. Chapter 10

Taylor sighed with relief as she pushed the test away from her and stood up. Ariel glanced over at her, and then hunched over her own test. Taylor pointed to the hallway and mouthed, "I'll wait." And then scooted out of the classroom and into the hallway. Finding a bench in the hallway, she sat down and pulled out her phone and was slightly surprised to see that she had about ten new text messages

**Summer:** Have you talked to Ryan yet?

**Seth:** Don't talk to Summer until you talk to Ryan

**Summer:** Call me if you need anything!

**Mason:** How's Ryan?

**Brad: **Do you know where Ryan is?

**Summer: **Seriously, call me!

**Seth: **Seriously, talk to Ryan first

**Summer: **Argh! Tell Seth to stop reading my texts!

Despite her involtary giggle when she read her friend's text-fight her stomach was clenched as she dialed Ryan's number.

"Hey... How was test?" She felt the knots on her stomach loosen slightly when she heard his voice. He sounded tired but he had answered the phone... She had been worried she wouldn't be able to reach him.

"Fine... Where are you?" She asked.

"Huh?"

"Your roommate texted me. He wasn't sure where you were..."

"How did Brad even get your number?"

"I gave it to him- in case of an emergency." She heard Ryan laugh softly. "Hey! It came in handy didn't it?" She defended her actions.

"I'm with the Cohen's..." He said.

"Oh okay... Do you mind telling me what's going on?"

"Huh?" Ryan sounded confused.

"Why is Summer freaking out?"

"Summer?" She heard Ryan groaned.

"Yeah, she said I should call her... But only after I talked to you. Ryan, what's going on? Is this about your ankle? Is everything okay?"

She heard Ryan suck in a deep breath, "Not really..." She felt her heart thud against her rib cage.

"What happened? What's wrong?"

"I went to the orthopedist this morning... Taylor, promise me you won't freak out? I really need you to not freak. Okay?"

"Okay..." _Too late_ her pounding heart said.

"I need surgery."

"What? When?"

"Tonight..."

"Where are you?" She tried to keep her voice from shaking.

"I'm at the hospital."

"Oh my God... I never should have left you alone last night."

"Taylor, stop, this isn't your fault. There was nothing you could have done."

"But... but..."

"Taylor... Please, don't fall apart on me..."

"I'm not!" She snapped, his criticism instantly reminded her that he needed her, and she needed a plan. "Okay... Where are you? I'm going to come over there-" He started to protest, "And you know it's going to happen, so don't argue. Alright, do you need anything? Can I bring you anything? Have you talked to your professors? Do you want me to stop by and talk to any of them? Do need anything from your dorm?"

"Uhmm... There's an Architectural Digest... And my ipod... And... I have class at 11:30 with Mayer..."

"Where? I'll stop by the classroom see if he's there and let him know, and then I'll go to your dorm. Are you at the hopsital?"

"Well, sorta. It's a different one then last night."

"Can you text me the address? I'll GPS it."

"Okay,"

"Alright, hang in there? I'll see you soon okay. Love you."

"Thanks... See you soon."

"I failed. I completely and totally failed that test..." Ariel said as she walked over to Taylor. "I totally bombed. I got an F. Now I'm going to fail this class. My parents are gonna-" She looked at Taylor, "What's wrong? What happened?"

"Ryan needs surgery on his ankle... I'm gonna get some stuff and then head over there."

"Oh..." Ariel went quiet. "Can I uh... Do anything?"

Taylor shook her head, "Don't worry, it's fine. Kirsten and Sandy are with him. He sounded okay on the phone."

"Alright... But if you need anything..."

"Thanks," Taylor gave her a watery smile. "I need to get going..."

"Yeah... Well... Keep me updated?"

"Sure," Taylor waved and then disappeared down the hallway.

"Ariel?" A male voice asked.

"Hey Mason," Ariel tried to smile, she felt shaken.

"Was that Taylor?"

"Uh yeah..."

"I wanted to ask her..."

"He's going into surgery." Ariel answered his question for him.

"Oh..." Mason smile vanished. "Shitty..."

"Yeah..." Ariel agreed.

"I was gonna uh... Go get some lunch or something. Do you wanna come with me?" He asked.

"Well, I uhm... Sure." She nodded. Why not?

"How was your test?" He asked as they started walking down the steps.

"It was fine." Ariel decided she didn't know Mason well enough to show him her neurotic side.

"Good..." Mason said. "Man, that totally sucks about Ryan... What happened?"

"Dunno... Taylor kind of rushed off..."

"Yeah..." Mason sighed.

"Do you think there's anything we can do?" Ariel asked.

Mason shook his head, "No, not right now anyway. I mean... When he comes back there might be stuff we can do, but for right now..."

"Yeah... I hate feeling ineffective."

"Well, we're not being ineffective..." Mason said reasonably, "We're just... Silent supports. I think right now, that's probably what Ryan needs. Not like, more people hovering."

"Yeah..." Ariel nodded, "I'm sure you're right."

"Just wish I knew what happened..."

"How so?"

"Well, I'm just wondering how a guy goes from a minor fracture to surgery..."

* * *

"Hey," Taylor came into Ryan's room, and smiled at him as much as she could, even as tears pricked at her eyes. She blinked them back. The last thing Ryan needed or would want would be her starting to cry, but she couldn't help the tears that welled up in her eyes at the sight of him sitting in a hospital bed, his bad leg suspended by a pulley above his bed. He looked pale and exhausted, but he looked up from the card game he was playing with Sandy and smiled at her.

"Hey," He said.

"Hey yourself," She said, and just hearing his voice and seeing his smile made her feel instantly better. The tears vanished, and she smiled a real smile. Somehow convinced that everything was going to be okay.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summer: **Any word yet?

**Taylor: **Nothing yet

**Summer: **What? It's been like 2 hours

**Taylor: **Not quite 2... And they said at least 2

**Summer: **Sorry, Seth's over here freaking out

**Taylor: **Tell him we'll call as soon as we hear anything

**Summer: **Seth wants to know if there's any chance you'd like to go find the doctor that's operating and shake him until we get some answers

**Taylor: **That might be counterproductive if he's operating on Ryan right now

**Summer: **He's not really seeing reason at the moment... Are you okay?

**Taylor: **I'm fine... Just worried. The Cohen's are worried too.

**Summer: **Wish we were there...

**Taylor: **I know... But right now, there's nothing you could do anyway

**Summer: **I could give you a hug

**Taylor: **Thanks... Dr here! GTG


	12. Chapter 12

Sandy, Kirsten and Taylor all jumped to their feet as soon as the doctor walked into the waiting area and hurried over to him.

"Dr. Babson! How is he?" Kirsten asked, her voice breathless.

Dr. Babson smiled slowly as he looked at the three anxious faces, "He's going to be just fine."

"Oh thank God," Kirsten said, hugging Sandy and then Taylor.

"The surgery went well, we were able to repair the bone with no complications, and it should heal just fine. He'll be up and about in no time."

"When can we see him?" Sandy asked.

"He's in recovery... We had a little trouble waking him up from the anesthesia..." Panic flashed across the three faces. "Don't worry... He's awake now. A little groggy, but that's to be expected. As soon as we've moved him back to his room you can see him."

"When can we take him home?" Kirsten asked. She was certain Ryan would want out of the hospital as soon as possible.

"I'd like to keep him overnight for observation, but first thing in the morning you can take him home." Kirsten and Sandy exchanged a look of slight dismay but nodded. Ryan would not be happy. He had already been here all day... He would not like being kept here all night.

"What's his prognosis?" Taylor asked.

The doctor looked at Taylor's anxious, eager face and smiled gently, "A few weeks, and he'll be on his own feet. Six months and he should be as good as new. He'll need physical therapy of course, but he's young and he's fit, so I see no reason, barring any major complications of course, why he shouldn't be just fine." Taylor felt a tension drain from her shoulders. He was going to be fine.

Then she gasped, "I need to call Summer!" And hurried a few feet away to call her best friend.

"Daughter?" Dr. Babson asked.

Kirsten smiled indulgently, "Ryan's girlfriend. When can we see him?"

"Like I said, he's in recovery, but we'll be moving him shortly, and then you're more than welcome to go see him, but I should warn you he's going to be a little groggy. I'm going to ask that you keep your visit short and let him get some sleep, and then you can take him home first thing in the morning."

Sandy nodded in understanding, and put an arm around Kirsten who looked like she about to protest, "Of course Doctor."

"I'll give you instructions for follow up care, and I'd like to see him again in a week. I put am air cast on him for now and even though its removable, it's very important that he not take it off for a week. He needs to be very careful not to try and move his ankle before it's ready. The brace is inflatable, and as the swelling goes down, we'll inflate it to keep the ankle completely immobilized while he heals." Kirsten nodded, but looked troubled. Weren't air casts those tiny things that you got when you sprained an ankle. Dr. Babson's pager went off. "Ah, he's being moved back to his room. Would you like to go meet him there?" Sandy summoned Taylor and instantly she was there next to him as the doctor led them back to Ryan's room.

Ryan looked like he was asleep when they walked in. An IV drip ran into his hand, and although he was sitting upright, his head was turned to the side, and his eyes were closed. His leg was no longer suspended above him, but was not tucked in under a blanket and only slightly elevated. Kirsten was the first to approach him while Sandy and Taylor hovered at the door. When her hand brushed his arm, Ryan's eyes opened slowly.

"Hey sweetie, how are you feeling?" Kirsten asked softly.

"Never better..." Ryan murmured. "Can I go home now?"

Kirsten leaned down and kissed his forehead, "Not yet... First thing in the morning." Sandy and Taylor edged their way into the room. Ryan saw the movement out of the corner of his eye and slowly turned his head, a small smile on his face.

"How are you feeling kiddo?" Sandy asked. "Is your ankle hurting you?"

Ryan shook his head, "No, it's fine... I'm just tired." Sandy took his post next to Kirsten and put his arm around her shoulder. Taylor walked to the other side of Ryan, and took her hand into her own. He squeezed her hand softly. "Were you worried about me?" He teased her.

"Not as worried as Seth..."

"Can someone call him? Tell him I'm fine..." Ryan's eyes closed as he spoke, he was surprised at how tired he felt.

"Already did," Taylor said softly. Kirsten and Sandy glanced at each other guiltily, they should have been the one to call their son and tell him, but Taylor had clearly beaten them to the punch while they were talking to the doctor. And if they had to guess, she had probably also been texting Summer constant status updates throughout the surgery. These kids and their cellphones...

"As long as I'm stuck here... Think I'm just gonna get some rest." Ryan said.

"Okay sweetie," Kirsten said, and kissed him on the forehead.

"Get some rest." Sandy said.

"Taylor?" Kirsten beckoned her when they reached the door.

"I'd uh... Like to stay? Just for a little while if that's okay?" Taylor asked, it was unclear if she was asking Sandy and Kirsten or Ryan for permission.

Ryan glanced at Sandy and Kirsten as he replied, "Yeah, that'd be great." Ryan squeezed her hand.

"Alright, well, good night you too. Love you," Sandy said as he and Kirsten departed, and watched Taylor pull up a chair beside Ryan's bed, and gently moved his bangs off his forehead. Kirsten couldn't help but feel a slight pang of jealousy. Ryan was growing up. Him and Seth both were. Sometimes they just didn't need their mom anymore.


	13. Chapter 13

"Hi my little girl..." Kirsten crooned as she leaned over Sophie's crib. Sophie looked up at her with sleep- filled eyes and suckled slightly as Kirsten lifted her out of the crib and offered her a bottle for breakfast. Kirsten sat down in the rocking chair to feed Sophie and glanced again at the clock. 6:09am. Visiting hours for patients started at 8am. Still almost 2 hours to go before they could pick up Ryan. She wondered if he was asleep. If he had slept well. If his ankle was bothering him. Her mind had raced with these questions all night, and her body had faught sleep.

She planned to bring him back to their house and keep him there for the next week or so. That way if he needed anything, her and Sandy would be right there. She hadn't run the plan by Ryan yet. She wasn't certain she could convince him... Or force him. She decided she would offer him a compromise- the weekend spent at their home. He could go back to the dorms on Monday. If he felt up to it. She laughed a little when she realized how hard she was going to have to work to force Ryan to let her take care of him. Of course, with Ryan it had always been like this. He wanted his independence or at least, he didn't want to be dependent on anyone. She glanced down at the baby, who looked up at her with solemn blue eyes and sucked avidly on her bottle. Completely trusting. Undamaged. Untainted. How long would they be able to protect her from the hurt and sorrow in this world? All the things they had fought to sheild Seth from... And then he had found on his own. And Ryan... Hurt and suffering just seemed to find him. That was why Kirsten was determined to keep him at her house, so she would know that he was safe and cared for.

********************************************************

"You're anxious to leave us Mr. Atwood, I'm almost offended." The nurse with the broad smile said, as she helped Ryan sit upright on the bed.

"Yeah well, no offense, but the food's better at home." He grimaced as he looked at the green jello that had been presented to him as breakfast.

"Well, you take it easy, you here me? You seem like the kind of guy to run off and find himself more trouble than he's ready for... And then you're just gonna end up back here."

Ryan smiled a half-knowing-smile, "Enough trouble finds me... I don't need to go looking for it."

"Well, you take care of yourself then. Your mother and father are here already to take you home." The nurse smiled once more and then went to tell Kirsten and Sandy, while Ryan finished pulling on the t-shirt that Taylor had brought for him the night before. Nurse Johnson had had to help him into his sweatpants. Ryan planned to take a scissor to them the moment he got home, and cut up the side so he could put them on over the brace without trouble. He chuckled a little at the thought of wanton abuse of clothing. As a kid... If he had broken his leg... He probably would have just worn boxers for the duration rather than damage one of his few items of clothing. As it was- if he told Kirsten what he was planning on doing she would probably be happy to have an excuse to buy him new sweatpants. She was forever trying to throw his old pairs away. Even going as far as "replacing" them while she did his laundry- as if Ryan wouldn't notice. Sometimes he allowed it, and sometimes, if they were a particular favorite, he demanded their return.

He wondered what sort of "plans" Kirsten had in store for him and his recovery. He was certain that for one thing she would ask him to stay with her and Sandy for the next week. Ryan dreaded that request. He hated being a burdent to them like that, and it wasn't like he was helpless, he still had three perfectly good limbs, but if he stayed with Kirsten, she would treat him like an invalid. She would insist he stay confined to bed, and act offended if he tried to do anything for himself. As if she _liked _to take care of him. But come one- no one could actually enjoy waiting on someone practically hand and foot like Kirsten insisted on doing whenever him and Seth were sick or hurt.

"Knock knock," Ryan heard Sandy cry out cheerfully, "How you feeling kid?" He asked as he poked his head into the room and looked around for Ryan. Ryan got to his feet, aided by the crutches he had deliberately propped up next to the bed so they would be in easy grab range. He wanted Kirsten and Sandy to see him acting as independently as possible.

"Great!" He said, "Glad to get out of here."

Kirsten frowned, "How's your ankle?"

Ryan shrugged before swinging his crutches foward and towards the door, "It feels fine... Better than when I came in here."

"Ryan... It's just us... You don't have to put on the tough guy act..." Sandy said softly, putting a hand on Ryan's shoulder as he reached them in the doorway. Ryan felt an involuntary tremor ripple through his body. Sandy seemed to feel it, because his hand squeezed Ryan's shoulder gently.

"Can we please just go home?" Ryan asked, staring at the floor.

"Of course sweetie," Kirsten put her hand gently on his back, and together the three of them made their way slowly out of the hospital and towards the car. Sandy went to go pull the car around, and Kirsten, with her hand still on his back, rubbing it gently, turned to Ryan. "How is it really feeling?"

"It hurts..." He admitted, "Pretty bad..."

"The doctor said he gave you some perscriptions to get filled out at the pharmacy... They should help a little... We'll get you home soon... And nice and settled..." She spoke soothingly, but Ryan tensed.

"Kirsten... You can take me back to the dorms."

Kirsten almost sighed with relief, she knew this argument was going to happen sooner or later, so she just smiled, "Come on Ryan, you can't actually think that that's what's going to happen..."

"Well... I... I know you're busy... And Sophie's there..."

"Ryan, you're staying with us. There's really no point in arguing."

Ryan sighed, "Alright..." Kirsten frowned. Ryan had aqueisced a little too easily. Was it a good sign? That he finally accepted that he was a part of the family? And that she would always take care of him? Or was he just too tired and in too much pain to argue. His face had paled visibly just in the few moments they were standing there. Their car pulled into view. "Let's get you home..." Kirsten said, as Ryan took a shaking step towards the door, and allowed Kirsten to open it for him.

"Sounds good.." Ryan agreed, as he carefully climbed in.


	14. Chapter 14

_A/N: Naught references ahead. Be warned. Should still be T friendly tho... Just don't try any of this stuff at home kiddies!_

* * *

Ryan toyed with his cellphone as he lay on the bed in what had been officially declared "his room." Seth had "his room" next door- even though neither one of them technically lived there. Sandy and Kirsten insisted that the each boys have a room whenever they wanted it, even if it meant Sandy's office had to have a pull out couch for nights when there was a full house, ie the boys were home and they had additional guests... Like Summer and Taylor. The rule about "no girls in bedrooms" was still strictly adhered to, even though the couples had regular sleepovers at college.

The room was a lot smaller than the poolhouse had been but Ryan liked it. It was on the second story and the window was hidden behind a tree and always made Ryan feel oddly like he was in some sort of tree house- even though he had never actually been in a real tree house in his entire life. When Kirsten had officially decalred the room as belonging to Ryan she had forced Ryan into a day-long-shopping-extravaganza and forced Ryan to help her pick out everything from his comforter to what color they were going to paint the walls. The only two things Ryan had asked for: white walls and not too many pillows on the bed. In the end they had compromised. The walls were a muted tan color that worked well with the dark green bed spread Ryan had chosen. Seth always said the room looked too military because Ryan was not one to hang posters on the wall, and instead opted for blue print designs he found interesting. Seth cracked jokes about tactical strikes and Ryan, as usual, ignored him or retaliated by pretending to be blinded by the bright orange color Seth had chosen to paint his bedroom, which worked oddly well with the dark blue blanket. The walls were covered with his own original art and posters from some of his favorite movies and posters drawn by his favorite "graphic novel illustrators."

"Comfy" Kirsten walked into the room, and then over to the bed and fluffed the pillow behind Ryan's back.

"Yeah," He smiled reassuringly. Really, he felt so dazed on whatever pain killers he had been given he could probably have slept on a pile of rocks and been okay.

"Good," Kirsten smiled, and gently rubbed his arm, then kissed his forehead. Ryan let her fuss. "Did you take your antibiotics? The doctor said that with any surgery there's always a risk of infection..."

Ryan nodded, "Yeah, I took them."

"Do you want to watch tv? Can I bring you a movie? I think Seth left some comic books in his room. Are you hungry?"

Ryan shook his head, "I think I'd rather just get some sleep." Kirsten's brow furrowed, it was only 10am, and Ryan had slept all night. "The pain killers... They make me really drowsy."

"Right, of course," The frown lines disappeared and her face relaxed into a soft smile.

"Can uh... Can Taylor come over for lunch?" She had sent him about five text messages that morning. Ryan knew she wouldn't show up at the Cohen's uninvited, but Ryan didn't want to invite her until he got parental approval. Ever since she had gone back to France, Sandy and Kirsten seemed a little wary around her, as if they were afraid that she would hurt Ryan again. He had been so depressed when she first left, even though he wouldn't admit that was why. He had moped and sulked in his pool house for weeks. Until finally Seth had dragged him out to The Crab Shack and told him they weren't leaving until he found a date... Or at least a girl to make out with... Or Seth got too drunk to stay upright. Whichever came first. Ryan had resisted... For the first three beers... Then he had met Christine. The next night it had been Stacy. Then Jaime.

Seth had started numbering them... And drinking heavily. Then he had accidentally addressed one of them- who had managed to last almost a week, by her number. The resulting showdown between the boys had brought them nearly to blows and all their issues to the surface. Seth was struggling with feeling abandoned after Summer left, the same as Ryan was with Taylor but he had comforted himself with the fact that she would be coming eventually... And beer. Ryan had no such thoughts to sustain him and thus he was doing whatever...or whoever... he could to block Taylor from his mind, but he confessed that once or twice he had accidentally called out her name at the wrong moment...

The boys decided that more women were not the answer to the current women problems, and both threw themselves into work. Seth worked to revitalize the Kid Chino series, and even managed to get a book published. With Kirsten's gladly given help, Ryan got an internship with an architectural company. Then school had finally started and Summer came home. And the next semester so did Taylor.

"Sure," Kirsten smiled, "I'll order extra. Get some rest..."

When she was gone, Ryan suddenly found that the sleep that had seemed so near-at-hand was suddenly eluding him. For some reason, his mind kept playing one scene over and over. He was out in the quad playing Ultimate Frisbee, when a shot went wide and out of the loosely- defined boundaries. Ryan had gone over to get it, but someone else beat him too it. A girl. Petite. Slim. Long hair that shone brightly in the sun.

"I think this-" She turned to look at him, and Ryan felt his heart suddenly skip a beat and his mouth went dry, "-Is yours." She managed, then they both stared at one another, neither sure what to say.

"Are you... back?" His voice sounded hoarse because his mouth was so dry. Taylor nodded. "And now you're here?"

"Ryan! Dude!" Someone yelled, but Ryan barely heard them.

"So you're back..." Suddenly he seemed to remember that he was holding the Frisbee. "I gotta..." He turned around and jogged away, leaving Taylor standing there feeling hurt and confused. _Good... _He had thought, _Let her know what's it like to be left for once._

Of course... Now he couldn't imagine going through this ordeal without her. She was a rock when it came to stuff like this. Broken bones and bruises she could handle, broken hearts... Were another story. His cellphone buzzed.

**Seth:** Dude, you hanging in there?

**Ryan: **Yeah man, I'm cool

**Seth: **Okay good... I did my brotherly duty. I'm going back to sleep now.

Ryan chuckled and looked at the clock, 10am in California meant it was 7am for Seth. Ryan was shocked he'd even gotten a text at all, and vaguely wondered if Seth had learned to sleep- text. Then giggled at the thought.

Outside, Sandy paused at the door. Had he just heard Ryan _giggle_? He decided it was the pain killers. Let Ryan giggle... He wouldn't say a word.

* * *

When Taylor arrived for lunch, Ryan had just made it the bottom landing. He had to hop down the steps, one hand clutching the banister for support, the other holding his crutches.

"Ryan! Really... We would have helped you!" Kirsten clucked as Ryan reached the bottom of the steps and sighed with releif. He grinned at Taylor.

"Nah, what fun would that be? This way's more of a challenge!"

Taylor glanced at Sandy with her eyebrows raised, "Pain killers." Sandy mouthed. Taylor nodded with understanding. After she had shot her mother during the earth quake the doctors had readily supplied her mother with a large prescription of some sort of narcotic. Late one night, Taylor had been awakened by a commotion outside. Her mother was out in the garden, chasing what she claimed were fairies. After that, there was no more wine allowed at the dinner table until her mother was finished with her pain medication.

The Earthquake. That was the last time she had seen Ryan get hurt. And then she had hurt him. She hadn't meant to, not really. In fact, when she left she was certain she was doing the right thing.


	15. Chapter 15

As she watched Ryan eat and smile good- naturedly at Kirsten and Sandy who hovered him, Taylor felt a warm wave of love pass through her. He was the reasons he had come home. She had told herself that when she went back to France she would forget about him. They were too different. They're affection had been based on hormones and sex. Not a solid foundation for a relationship. But as much as she tried to focus elsewhere- on the art, food, wine- her mind kept floating back across the ocean to Ryan. She wondered how he was. What he was doing. Was he happy at College? Had he been able to leave the ghost of Marissa behind him in Newport? At night he filled her dreams and during the day sometimes she swore she saw his face in the crowd, but when she turned to look he was gone.

"It is love," Her host sister told her when she finally confessed that her mind was not in the art gallery that they were visiting that afternoon but thousands of miles across an ocean and a continent, "You cannot fight it... You should go to him." So they forgot about the art gallery and went home. She had delayed her acceptance to Berekly for a year, but she wrote an email and asked to come the following semester. They had asked no questions just written a prompt response that they would be delighted to welcome her to the fall for the Spring Semester. And then it was done. She booked her flight. Planned out every detail of her remaining months so she could make the most of her time there and then before she knew it. She was on a plane. Headed over the Atlantic Ocean.

Except for her mother and Summer, she told no one, and she swore Summer to secrecy. Seth would have told Ryan.

Back in America she and Summer spent a weekend in NYC together. Summer told Seth she was spending the weekend with her father. Then, after a tearful goodbye she was on another plane.

_California here we come. Right back where we started from..._

She still hadn't told Ryan. Berekly was a big place she told herself. She might not ever see him. Besides, this wasn't REALLY about him, this was about not putting her education on hold any longer. The story she had told her mother. No reason to procrastinate on getting her college education. France would always be there. Maybe she could work there after graduation. Fine. Fine. Her mother had said and reminded her to use their travel agent and frequent flier miles.

So there she was, on the college campus. She'd be there two weeks. She had seen him. Twice. From a distance. He hadn't seen her. She made no move to approach him. She had come this far, if fate wanted them to be together, then it was going to have to make the next move.

Then a frisbee had fallen by her feet. She had picked up, worried that she was about to make a fool of herself if she tried to toss it back, but someone was running towards her, hand out, ready to take it. Good. She wasn't about to make a fool of herself in front of all those guys- she could just hand it back... And then their eyes had locked. Those dark blue eyes that she had seen so many nights in her dreams.

"I think... this is yours." Was all she could say. Really, she had wanted to throw herself on him, and get ravished up against the nearby tree.

"Are you... back?" He asked, her mind was far away still fantasizing about the tree... She barely managed to nod. "And now you're here?" She couldn't tell if he was happy, angry or confused. Maybe he had been all of them. She had left him...

"Ryan! Dude!" A voice- the guys wanted their frisbee back. T

"So you're back..." He stared at her, and then shook his head, "I gotta..." He turned around and jogged away, leaving Taylor standing there feeling hurt and confused. It had been written all over her face. He seemed to know. Because that night at dinner as she sat with her new suitemates who she barely knew, he had come and found her.

"So.. You're back..."

"Yeah... I think we established that..." She giggled, a little nervous. Her suitemates stared.

"Right... For how long?"

Taylor shrugged, "At least til' graduation."

"Why'd you come back?"

"I... I..." Suddenly the excuses she had told her mother seemed flawed and flimsy, but she couldn't tell him the truth. _I just wanted to be with you. _"I think I was just running away, you know. From... uh... growing up and responsibility, so I decided it was time to face...my fears." _Loving you- that's my fear- that you'll reject me._

"Right..." Ryan seemed suspicious. "Look... my uh friends are having this party on Friday. Do you think...?" He eyed Taylor and the table full of girls next to her. "Would you... All of you- like to come?"

"Like totally!" Another girl spoke for Taylor. Taylor colored slightly.

"I guess thats a yes..." Taylor smiled shyly.

"Right, see you there."

"Pad thai?"

"Huh?" The question snapped Taylor out of her reverie. She realized Kirsten and Sandy were giving her funny looks. "Oh ah... yes please..." She colored slightly and ducked her head as Kirsten served her. She saw Ryan smile at her.

When lunch was over, Ryan settled himself on the couch, and Taylor sat down next to him. He put his arm over his shoulder and she reached up for his hand. "At lunch... what were thinking about?" He asked, as he flicked on the television.

"Frisbees..." She said.

"Frisbees?" He stared at her a moment confused, then smiled, "Funny... I was too earlier today..." He bent his head closer to her ear and whispered. "Did I ever tell you... I'm glad you came home."

"Thanks..." _Did I ever tell you- I could never really leave you._


	16. Chapter 16

"It just makes more sense for me to be closer to my classes tomorrow!" Ryan pleaded his case with Kirsten. He was ready to go back to his dorm room, but Kirsten wanted him to stay with her and Sandy for a few more days.

"It's only been two days!" Kirsten pointed out.

"I have school tomorrow..." Ryan reminded her.

"Your doctor will write you a note- you just had surgery, your teachers can't possibly expect you to be in the classroom by tomorrow!"

Ryan sighed, "Well, no, but I don't want to fall behind!"

"I'm sure they'll give you any extra time on assignments if you need it!" Kirsten offered.

"Yes but..." Ryan wracked his brain for an excuse, any excuse. He just wanted to go back to his dorm room, and go back to his life. He didn't like living suspended like this, while everyone else's life went on around him.

Kirsten sighed, she seemed to understand, "How's your ankle feeling?"

"Fine." Ryan answered automatically.

"I meant really-"

"Oh... The pain medication helps a lot."

"Ryan..."

"Kirsten, its not that I don't love spending time with you and Sandy... I just... Lots of kids get hurt at college, and they don't have their parents three blocks away to take care of them, and somehow they manage."

"But you do have parent's who are three blocks away who want to take care of you!"

"I know- and I really appreciate it but..." He looked at Kirsten, "I'm not going to win this fight am I? You know, if asked Taylor would come and kidnap me." He grinned.

Kristen looked at him for a long moment, "Is it really that important? What do you really think you're missing?"

"It's not... I just hate lying around here feeling like an invalid. I'd rather be up, doing stuff. I mean, I know I'm kind of limited with what i can do..." He glared at his cast- encased foot and leg, "But the doctor said it should be fine, and as long as I take it easy and get plenty of rest..."

"I don't see hopping up and down a flight of steps counts as taking it easy..." Kirsten huffed.

"I have to do that here- and if I talk to my RA they can ask the building supervisor to give me permission to use the elevator."

"What about food and stuff?"

"Kirsten- I can still get to the cafeteria. I don't need breakfast in bed... Not that I don't appreciate it!" He added hastily, looking at the trey of food Kirsten had thoughtfully provided as an afternoon snack as he lay on the couch and watched TV. Eat. Sleep. Watch TV. The three activities of his weekend. He should suggest a broken ankle to Seth next time he heard him complaining about too much activity in his life.

"Well..." Kirsten sighed, "Alright." He was a grownup after all, over 18 and capable of making his own decisions.

"Thanks," he smiled, feeling relieved.

Taylor however was less enthused about his decision to return to campus, "You're coming back? Kirsten's letting you come back?"

"You don't seem that excited..."

"No- I mean, I'm glad... I'm just, well, it's not like you're really that far away and I'm just worried about you."

"Really? Why?"

Taylor sighed with exasperation, "Because, though it may have escaped your notice- you have a broken ankle!"

"Actually I had, thank you for pointing it out to me!"

"Ryan, I'm not trying to fight with you, I'm just saying that it's going to be hard for you to get around. This campus isn't easy on crutches- there's a lot of walking and stuff. Maybe it'd be better if you just relaxed for another week. When I told your professor on Friday he was very understanding."

"Taylor, I'm on these damn things for at least six weeks, maybe longer. I mind as well get used to it!" He huffed.

"Alright... alright... What can I do to help?" Taylor said, Ryan's mind was made up. There was going to be no changing it.


	17. Chapter 17

A/N: So I had major writer's block every time I tried to sit down and write this chapter but uh, here's what I came up with

* * *

"Okay- do you have everything you need?" Kirsten asked, looking around the tiny dorm room to see if there was anything she had missed or forgotten. Taylor sat on the edge of the bed, perpendicular to Ryan who lay on the bed, his bad ankle elevated on a pile of three pillows.

"I'm fine, thanks..." Ryan said tiredly. The trip from the Cohen's back to his dorm room had been more exhausting than he had anticipated. Maybe he would write an email to his professors and at least take Monday off.

"Are you sure?" Kirsten swayed in the center of the room as if unwilling to take another step further from Ryan.

"Yeah, really." He tried to smile reassuringly, but even he knew the smile faultered and he saw the concern in Kirsten's face.

"Okay..." She took another hesistant step towards the door. "If you need anything, call us okay?"

"Okay," Ryan agreed. She took another step towards the door, then reversered her direction and came back toward the bed. Taylor scooted out of the way and averted her eyes as Kirsten came and gave Ryan a half hug and kissed his forehead.

"Remember to call us if you need anything," She reminded Ryan once more, as she finally tore herself away from Ryan's bedside and made a more successful attempt at leaving. As the door closed behind her, Ryan let out a tired sigh of relief.

"You okay?" Taylor asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just need some sleep..." He saw a look of concern start to creep over Taylor's face, "Oh no- don't you start!"

"Ryan, now matter how tough you act or how difficult you make it for us, we're still going to worry about you. We l-" She caught herself. The four letter word. They had never said it, "Like to take care of you." She corrected herself. Ryan glanced at her but decided not to pursue her comment.

"Well... Thanks..." He said, and smiled up at her. Taylor couldn't help but notice the bags under his eyes. With a tentative hand she reached out and gently touched his face, her thumb stroked his cheek.

"You look tired... Have you been sleeping okay?"

Ryan shrugged, "Alright not great... I usually wake up during the night... When the pain killers wear off." He hadn't admitted his pain to Kirsten or Sandy, he was afraid they would overreact. Or hover. He hated the hovering. He knew he did it because they cared but still. He really couldn't take the hovering.

The door opened interrupting their conversation, "Hey man, I've been wondering-" Brad stopped mid- sentence when he saw his roommates leg propped up on about three pillows in an enormous boot. "What happened..." He glanced back and forth between Ryan and Taylor.

"Hey Brad," Ryan said, "I kinda broke my ankle."

"Right..." Brad edged nervously over to his desk. "Are you uhmm... Okay?"

"Yeah, it's fine." Ryan shrugged.

"Right... So uh... Where were you like all weekend? I woke up Friday morning and you were like gone..."

"Oh I-" Ryan realized had forgotten he had hidden the injury Thursday night. "I uh..." He looked at Taylor for help, but Taylor just shrugged. "I broke my ankle Thursday... And it was really bothering me on Friday so I went to my parents house."

"Oh, okay." Brad shrugged. "Wait... Thursday?"

"It wasn't a big deal-" Ryan said quickly.

Brad still looked mildly confused, but he just shrugged, "Okay."

Someone knocked on their door, "Come in," Brad yelled, his eyes still fixated on Ryan.

"Hey Ryan- dude! We've been like calling your phone all weekend!"

"Where the hell have you been man?" Ryan's friends Andrew and Nate came barging into the room, neither acknowledged Brad. "Hey Ty," Their nickname for Taylor. She hated it.

"Hey guys," She said, with an annoyed wave, and shot a look of exasperation at Ryan.

"Hey," He pushed himself slightly more upright and looked at the two of them.

"We were about to go play a game of frisbee golf."

"Want in?"

"Uh guys?" Taylor asked, raising her eyebrows at them and their painful lack of observational powers.

"Oh sorry- were we _interrupting _something?" Andrew asked, as he raised an eyebrow and leered suggestively. Taylor rolled her eyes.

"I uh... Am kind of out of commission for awhile, sorry..." Ryan said, slowly, and let his eyes roll down his leg. Andrew and Nate followed his look.

"Oh dude!"

"What the hell happened?"

"I broke it playing soccer." Ryan confessed.

"Woah, seriously?"

"Yes, seriously," Taylor snapped, Ryan patted her leg. Even if she didn't like him, they were his friends.

"So like... how long are you like stuck in that thing?"

"Six weeks," Ryan grimaced.

"That like totally sucks man,"

"Yeah man, it totally sucks." Ryan couldn't have agreed more.

"Can we like... do something?"

"No, I'm uh, okay."

"Right... Well, uh, we're gonna go play frisbee." Nate raised his frisbee. They started to back out the door.

"Get well soon man,"

"Yeah man, we'll see you around." When they were gone, Ryan sighed. Taylor patted his arm.

"Six weeks of this is going to be hell." He said, and Taylor didn't know what to tell him. She had a feeling he was right.

* * *

As they walked down the hallway, Andrew and Nate were visibly shaken. If injury could happen to Ryan, it could happen any of them. It was an unwelcome reminder of their own mortality and that they were not as invincible as they liked to pretend to be.

As they approached the waiting group they exchanged a nervous glance. They felt weird telling everyone.

"Did you find Ryan?" Mike asked.

"Uhmm, yeah."

"What was he with Taylor or something?" James grinned.

"No uh, he like, broke his ankle." Andrew said.

"What? When?" Mike and James looked stunned for a moment.

"He said like Thursday."

"Man, that sucks." James felt his pain, having suffered a broken ankle once in high school while playing basketball.

"Thursday? We were like playing soccer Thursday..." Mike suddenly remembered Ryan going down. He had gone over to help him, but that kid Mason got there first. "Oh yeah, I forgot he fell."

"Guys wanna forget frisbee? Maybe grab some beers and bring them over to Ryan's room? Cheer him up?" James suggested.

"Yeah, sure, why not?" Any excuse was a good on in Andrew's book.

"We should invite Kirsty and Sammy too,"

"Yeah,"

"Dude, Taylor's up there, think she's gonna flip?" Mike hesitated.

"Nah, she's cool." Nate said.

"Alright, see you guys back here in twenty?"


	18. Chapter 18

Armed with beers, a deck of cards, several dvd's, and two girls in tow, Mike, Andrew, Nate and James made their way back to Ryan's room. Brad opened the door when they knocked and stared at them blankly for a moment, "Uh… Hey…" He said cautiously, moving aside to allow the 6 people into the dorm room.

"Hey," Mike was the only one who greeted him.

"Uh… Hey guys…" Taylor said, staring at them. "What's up?" Her tone should have told them that she had exactly 0 interest in whatever "was up."

"Hey," Ryan's greeting was friendlier.

"We came to cheer you up!" Nate hefted the twelve pack of beer he was carrying into the air.

"I'm going to go to the library and uh… study." Nobody noticed as Brad slipped out of the door.

"Oh Ryan! You're poor ankle!" Kirsty exclaimed, moving closer to him and shouldering Taylor the side.

"Does it hurt?" Asked Samantha, her face crumpled with concern.

"Yes, and he's tired, so why don't you guys let him get some rest?" Taylor snapped.

"Taylor, it's fine…" Ryan waved her concerns down as Nate grinned and passed him a beer.

"Ryan!" A moment ago he had just been saying how tired he was, but suddenly with everyone here, his exhaustion was all but forgotten.

"Let me fluff your pillow Ryan," Kristy was saying.

"Do you need anything Ryan?" Samantha aka "Sammy" was asking. Taylor wanted to punch them both in the face. Did they not see her standing right there? The four guys who had come up had made themselves right at home. Mike and James were sitting on the computer chairs. Nate was on the armchair and Andrew was on the beanbag chair the Cohen's had provided for Ryan. Kirsty and Sammy were on the bed. Taylor was stuck leaning up against the wall. She grimaced at Ryan, but he was animatedly describing the break to Kirsty and Sammy who were making a show of squealing and wincing in sympathy and had attracted the attention of the other four guys in the room.

Taylor glowered. She had a feeling Ryan would not have been so appreciative of this silly girlishness when he'd been sitting in the hospital, but now he was clearly enjoying his attentive audience and his beer. Taylor watched as he downed one and then Nate passed him another.

"Ryan, be careful, you just took…"

"Yeah, I know, I know…" He said dismissively. Taylor wanted to throw a book at his head.

"You know what, if you don't need me, I'm going to go." She waved her hand and turned to go.

"Wait Taylor…" Ryan started to get up, but a stab of pain went up his leg, and he gave up. "Fine, whatever…" He muttered. If Taylor wanted to be like that, then she could just be like that. Didn't she understand what a horrible weekend he had had and that he was glad his friends had come over to give him support? Her friends would do the same for her, and he wouldn't get all mad about it.

"Ryan, are you okay?" Kirsty was saying. She had big blue eyes. For a moment it wasn't Kristy there beside him it was… Okay, that was the Vicodin talking. He pushed the thought from his mind.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He grimaced and pushed himself further upright, against his ankle's protests.

"So six weeks huh? That sucks man…" Nate gestured at the ankle and then took a long swig of his beer.

"Yeah… maybe longer…" Ryan admitted as he took another welcome sip of his own beer.

"Seriously? Damn… " James shook his head in sympathy.

"It looked pretty bad when you went down man…" Mike said, "I was gonna get over there, but you got back on your feet. I thought you were okay…"

"I know, I did too, I thought it was just sprained." He shrugged.

"Gosh Ryan, you're so strong! I would have been like crying on the field… They would like have had to call an ambulance for me even if it was just a sprain!" Sammy gushed, running her hand up and down Ryan's muscular arms. Ryan felt the heat rise in his cheeks. "Have I ever told you that you have great arms by the way?" She asked, batting her eyes at him.

"Hey Nate, mind breaking my ankle? It seems to attract girls!" Andrew joked. Sammy turned around and made a face at him.

"Whatever Drew," She tossed her hair at him.

"So where were you all weekend?" Mike asked, "Did you go to your parent's house?"

"Yeah, they took me to the doctor and stuff." Ryan had never really bothered to correct the assumption that Kirsten and Sandy were his parents. Sometimes he got odd looks when people heard him calling them by their first names, but most of the time people just assumed it was some sort of new-age, hippy thing, I mean Sandy _was_ a professor. He told his students to call him by his first name, why not his sons?

"It's gotta be nice having parents around for stuff like that," Kirsty said, a little wistfully. She happily told anyone who would listen stories about her parents who were ex-rockstars of some note who lived down in LA and never seemed to find time to visit their daughter.

"It was good, yeah." Ryan agreed, "Made surgery and stuff a lot easier."

"Surgery?" Everyone whirled and looked at him. He immediately felt uncomfortable. He had forgotten he hadn't told that part of the surgery. Out of habit he looked around for Taylor. She was good at telling stories like this, and would take the attention of him. With a sigh he remembered she had stormed out of the room.

"Oh yeah, when I went to the doctor I found out that they'd like set it wrong at the hospital. They had to put a plate in and a couple screws." He tried to sound nonchalant, like it was no big deal, but everyone stared at him.

James let out a low whistle and laughed uncomfortably, "Man, you are one tough dude. I think I'd still be at my parents' house like passed out on pain killers."

"Yeah," He said quietly, but physical pain he could handle. It was just a broken ankle. Okay, so it was more physical pain than he had ever felt in his life, but being here at college, surrounded by his friends with Sandy and Kirsten near by and Taylor… He felt a sudden pang of remorse that Taylor wasn't there. Anyway, overall, it really wasn't that bad. Could be worse. The room had gotten quiet. "Uhmm… you know, I am kind of tired." He said, and looked around the room balefully.

"Hey man, we totally understand." The kids all got there feet. Ryan picked his cell phone up off the dresser.

"Thanks," His smile was rueful, as he waved good night and everyone trooped out.

"Another beer?" Nate offered.

Ryan shook his head, "No thanks, probably not such a good idea… Pain killers and all…"

Nate smiled out of the corner of his mouth, "That's half the fun… But hey, if it's not your thing." He put the beer back into its slot in the cardboard box.

"Later Ryan," Kristy squeezed his arm.

"Call me if you need _anything_," Sammy offered before Kristy rolled her eyes then grabbed Sammy's hand and pulled her out of the room.

"Feel better man," Mike offered, giving his shoulder an affectionate nudge. "Are you going to be Poli sci tomorrow?"

"I was thinking I might take the day off…" Ryan admitted.

"I don't blame you, well, see you around." The door had hardly closed behind the group when there was another knock.

Ryan sighed, "Come in," he yelled tiredly.

"Hey Ryan sorry to-" His RA a Junior named Jessica walked into the room. She looked around. "Oh… Sorry… I got a complaint that there were kids being kind of loud in here…"

"Oh, sorry about that, everyone left."

He saw Lauren eye the empty beer bottle next to his bed, "And I'm assuming at least one of them was 21 and that's there's?"

"Yes," Ryan quickly agreed.

"Ryan!" She had just noticed his leg, "Are you okay? What happened?" Ryan decided he was going to have to get used to this. Maybe he should just announce it on his Facebook page. Let people pour out there sympathies to his wall and get it out of their systems.

"Oh, yeah, I kinda fell playing soccer."

"Oh no! Let me talk to the building manager, and get you elevator permission. Okay?"

"Thanks Lauren,"

"How long are you stuck like that?"

"Six, maybe 8 weeks." Ryan sighed.

"Ryan?" A familiar voice asked.

"Taylor?" He was surprised but relieved when her head poked around Lauren's shoulder. Lauren rowed for the crew team. Taylor was nearly eight inches shorter and half her size. Lauren moved out of the way obligingly.

"Good night guys," Lauren grinned at them and left.

"She came to break up the party…" Ryan explained.

"Guess it worked."

"No, I'd already kinda done it for her."

"Really?"

Ryan shrugged, "I was tired… I'm sorry I didn't tell them to leave sooner."

Taylor shook her head, "No, I'm the one that should be sorry. Your friends just came by because they care about I shouldn't have freaked out like that. But next time… Can you please tell Sammy and Kristy to keep their hands to themselves?"

"Sammy told me I have nice arms," He winked at Taylor. Taylor just rolled her eyes.

"I think she has told that to every member of the football, baseball, swim and chess team."

"Probably… What do you think? Do I have nice arms?" He flexed for her.

Taylor obligingly cupper her hands around them, "They're pretty good."

"Look at that… You can't even get your hands all the way around them!" He laughed, and took her hands in his. "You have very small hands."

"And you are drunk."

"Quite possibly… Did you come to tuck me into bed?"

"Yeah, and see if you needed anything."

"Actually… I kinda need to pee…"

Taylor flushed, "I don't think…. That wasn't quite… What do you think… Can I even go in…?"

Ryan let her flounder about for a moment, and laughed as her face got red, "I meant can you hand me my crutches so I can get up."

"Oh right…" Taylor ducked her face which was still bright red and Ryan was still chuckling, as he got to his feet and mounted onto his crutches.

"You know, I think it's so cute when you're awkward."

"You're kind of cute yourself," Taylor said, as she stood up on tiptoes and kissed his lips. "Even when you're drunk."

* * *

A/N: Don't worry there will be a sequel coming shortly


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